HYDERABAD: Hoping for a better future,a 29-year-old Ram (name changed) arrived in Hyderabad after acing the Group I preliminary examination conducted by the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC).
Ram, who is not from a well-to-do family, reached the State’s capital city with a bag of subsidy rice in one hand and Group I recruitment exam preparation study material in the other. He has been taking coaching at a private coaching centre for the mains after paying a fee of Rs 60,000. Since his arrival in Hyderabad, he has been living in a cramped room near his coaching centre.
His hopes of acing the Group I mains soared when he crossed the first hurdle and became one of the 25,050 candidates who have been shortlisted from a total of 2.85 lakh candidates for the mains. He took a hand loan from his friend on interest to take coaching.
Ram had been eying Group I services for a long time. After the formation of Telangana State in 2014, Ram began his preparations though there were no notifications. When the notification was issued recently, he applied and cleared the prelims, scoring 80 marks.
Ram, just like lakhs of others, is flabbergasted as to know how a full-time employee like Pulidindi Praveen Kumar — who is now facing charges of leaking question papers of the civil engineers recruitment examination — could secure 103 marks in the Group 1 preliminary examination. He is one of those who strongly believes that the Group I preliminary examination question papers too may have been leaked.
What makes them suspect that the paper was leaked is that those who are in the government service have already cleared the examination with very high marks. This they deduce is not possible as they would have very little time to prepare for the prelims as they are already in government service.
Ramesh (name changed), a sub-inspector of police who has already cracked two other police recruitment tests, cleared the preliminary examination. He is now planning to apply for his privileged leaves (PLs), which are very limited.
Now, he is in two minds -- whether or not to apply for leave as there is a suspicion that the question paper for Group I preliminary examination too may have been leaked and that the examination that has been conducted might be scrapped.
Who is Praveen Kumar & what is the paper leak scandal?
Pulidindi Praveen Kumar is the prime accused in the TSPSC paper leak case. He got a job in the State government services on compassionate grounds after his father died before superannuation.He was initially posted in State’s printing press department but managed to get transferred to the TSPSC. From the rank of a junior assistant, he got elevated to an Assistant Section Officer and was posted as the personal assistant to the TSPSC secretary, who is the administrative head of State level recruitment body. In the capacity of PA to TSPSC secretary, Praveen has access to all the sections, including the confidential section where the question papers are kept.
After managing to get the password of the superintendent of the confidential section Praveen accessed question papers for the examinations for the recruitment of Assistant Engineer, Municipal Assistant Engineer, Technical Officer, and Junior Technical Officer in various engineering departments, which was held on March 5, Town Planning and Building Overseer examination which is now postponed, and at least two more other question papers.
He reportedly sold the question papers to a few job aspirants. It was also alleged that Praveen leaked question papers to female candidates in return for “benefits.” Praveen was disqualified from attending mains as he had made some mistakes in his OMR sheet. But he scored 103 marks in the preliminary examination.
What are the apprehensions of govt job aspirants?
“When Praveen Kumar could leak question papers of one examination, there is every possibility of him leaking the question papers of Group I preliminary examination too,” said Ram, who has been preparing diligently for the examination.
Sub-inspector Ramesh, meanwhile, said that the TSPSC should verify top scorers with random sampling to confirm whether they have the calibre to score high, leave alone qualifying. As the unqualified candidates have been demanding scrapping the Group I preliminary examination like the examination for Assistant Engineer posts, TNIE chose to speak to the candidates who have qualified in the preliminary examination.
What’s TSPSC saying about Group 1?
In a recent chart with TNIE, TSPSC chairman B Janardhan Reddy said that they have lodged a police complaint on the Assistant Engineers examination question papers leak. He also said a SIT has been constituted to look into allegations of question papers leak, including Group I. “It is too early to arrive at a conclusion. Please wait till the inquiry by SIT is completed,” he said.
Praveen may have leaked 5 papers
The SIT, which is investigating the TSPSC paper leak case, is learned to have found that the prime accused, Pulidindi Praveen Kumar has accessed five question papers of different recruitment examinations. The leaked question papers include those of Town Planning and Building Overseer (TPBO) and Motor Vehicle Inspector recruitment exams. The TSPSC has postponed these exams. Police have not officially confirmed that Praveen has accessed these five question papers from the confidential section. On Thursday, ACP (Crimes & SIT) AR Srinivas learned to have held a meeting with the TSPSC Chairman B Janardhan Reddy and other stakeholders. The SIT has inspected the security system at the TSPSC. Police are also looking into possible role of other TSPSC employees in the scandal. The preliminary investigation revealed that Praveen had logged into the confidential devices with the section superintendent’s password and copied the question papers in a pen drive. The police have recovered the hard copies of printed question papers from the possession of the other accused.