BHUBANESWAR: In what can be termed as a lack of coordination between government recruitment agencies, the examinations for the posts of revenue inspector (RI)/amin and the assistant section officer (ASO) in the office of Advocate General of Odisha, have both been scheduled on the same day on Sunday, causing concern and frustration among job aspirants.
The Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) and the Odisha Sub-ordinate Staff Selection Commission (OSSSC) have decided to go ahead and conduct the recruitment examinations for ASO and RI/amin posts respectively, at the same time on Sunday. While 52,000 candidates have registered to appear for the ASO exam, over 5.8 lakh aspirants have registered for the RI/amin exam.
Expressing concern over the same, an aspirant Sunil Kumar Mishra said they had requested both the recruitment agencies to consider rescheduling both the exams. “It is impossible for candidates to appear for both the tests at the same time, which amounts to a violation of their right to fair opportunity. Every aspirant has the right to appear for all exams for which they are eligible and to pursue fair opportunities in public employment,” he added.
Both the recruitment examinations were embroiled in controversies, leading to the state government promulgating the Odisha Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act.
“Following controversy over qualifying marks, the ASO exam was rescheduled thrice by the OPSC and the final date of examination was fixed on November 9 (Sunday). OSSSC also announced the revised RI/amin exam date of October 8 to November 13 with one of the phases to be held on November 9. If the government wishes to extend job opportunities to unemployed educated youths, it has to address the prevailing irregularities, mismanagement and lack of coordination between the recruitment agencies,” said another candidate Pragynashree Samal.
Aspirants have urged the government to generate a fixed recruitment calendar for all exams by the recruitment agencies.