BHUBANESWAR: The state government has initiated the process to strengthen its recruitment agencies and cut down involvement of private agencies in conduct of examinations to government posts, said Revenue Minister Suresh Pujari on Friday.
The minister’s statement came in the wake of allegations against the Odisha Sub-Ordinate Staff Selection Commission (OSSSC) over large-scale irregularities in conduct of common recruitment examinations.
Addressing media persons here, Pujari said efforts will be made to strengthen OPSC, OSSSC and SSB, both infrastructure and manpower-wise, to conduct all government recruitment examinations in a transparent manner.
“Earlier, recruitment was done by government agencies. But in the last few years, they began outsourcing the job to third party agencies. This is where the problem started because private agencies were free to conduct the examinations in whatever manner they wanted,” he said.
Stating that it is a worrying trend, the minister admitted that the recent irregularities in conduct of examinations need to be thoroughly investigated.
On the other hand, owing to the growing resentment over the irregularities, the OSSSC on Friday allowed the candidates to lodge their grievances online. The OSSSC notified that candidates can file their exam-related complaints only through the commission’s website by uploading evidence supporting their claims till November 17.
The OSSSC through a private agency had conducted preliminary exams for the posts of revenue inspector (RI), assistant RI, Amin, ICDS supervisors and statistical field surveyors. Nearly five lakh candidates from across the state had appeared for it from September 20 to October 8.
However, the candidates alleged discrepancies at several examination centres. They also alleged one of the four private agencies selected to conduct the examinations, was earlier blacklisted for irregularities. Besides, the tests were conducted in cyber cafes and cement godowns at some places which gave rise to the scope for tampering the process.
Following these allegations, the state government had sought a report from the Revenue department. Pujari had apprised Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi regarding the complaints and directed his department to look into the matter and submit a report.