Bengaluru, Nov 12 (IANS) Against the backdrop of the recent Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) recruitment scam that exposed alleged question-paper leaks, OMR sheet manipulation and bribery, the Karnataka government on Thursday has rolled out stringent and first-of-their-kind measures to ensure a fair and transparent preliminary examination for 319 Gazetted Probationer posts on Sunday.
A total of 1,47,067 candidates, including 91,238 men and 53,074 women, have applied for the examination to be held across the state on November 15. The government is leaving no stone unturned to prevent malpractice, with CCTV surveillance, mobile jammers, additional invigilators and same-day uploading of scanned OMR sheets among the measures being introduced.
Briefing a meeting on examination preparedness, KPSC Controller of Examinations H. Prasanna outlined a series of reforms aimed at preventing irregularities and improving transparency.
Under a new five-option OMR system, candidates who do not know the answer to a question will be required to mandatorily darken the fifth bubble. No question can be left blank.
The OMR sheets will also have three copies to ensure transparency. One copy will be given to the candidate, another will be retained by the KPSC for evaluation, while the third will be securely kept in the Deputy Commissioner or KPSC strong room.
CCTV cameras and mobile jammers are being installed in all examination halls. Superintendents of Police have been instructed to personally certify that the jammers are functioning properly.
Two invigilators will be deployed in every examination hall to verify identity cards, conduct frisking and other checks, and monitor candidates from the rear of the hall.
In another significant transparency measure, scanned copies of all OMR sheets will be uploaded to the KPSC website for public viewing on the day of the examination itself. Arrangements have been made to scan the OMR sheets in 12 districts.
For future examinations, Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar has directed the Department of e-Governance to introduce Aadhaar-based identity verification at examination centres to prevent impersonation.
He has also instructed officials to establish OMR scanning centres at all district headquarters in coordination with the Department of Technical Education to enable faster processing and declaration of examination results.
The Chief Minister has further directed Deputy Commissioners to give priority to the issuance of Caste Validity Certificates. Noting that appointments based on several previously announced recruitment results had been delayed due to pending certificates, he said such bottlenecks would not be tolerated.
The preliminary examination is being conducted to fill 319 Gazetted Probationer posts, including 202 Group ‘B’ and 117 Group ‘A’ posts.
A total of 345 examination sub-centres have been established across Kalaburagi, Raichur, Ballari, Bagalkot, Vijayapura, Dharwad, Belagavi, Uttara Kannada, Shivamogga, Dakshina Kannada, Hassan, Davanagere, Tumakuru, Mysuru and Bengaluru Urban districts.
Paper I, covering General Studies and Humanities, will be held from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, while Paper II on State-related General Studies, Science and Technology and Mental Ability will be conducted from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Each paper will carry 100 questions for a total of 200 marks.
With two papers being conducted, a total of 2,94,134 OMR sheets will be scanned.
The enhanced measures come in the wake of the recent KPSC recruitment scam, which involved allegations of question-paper leaks, OMR sheet manipulation and bribery in the recruitment of 400 Veterinary Officers in the Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Department, along with suspected irregularities in 13 other KPSC recruitment drives.
Investigators have alleged that bribes ranging from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 80 lakh per post were collected from candidates in exchange for leaked question papers, answer keys and manipulation of provisional merit lists. Former KPSC Chairman Shivashankarappa Sahukar, former KPSC Controller of Examinations and IAS officer Gyanendra Kumar Gangwar, KPSC member B.V. Geetha and alleged middleman and BJP leader Basavaraj Kannale have been arrested in connection with the case.
With the upcoming examination drawing more than 1.47 lakh aspirants, the Karnataka government is seeking to restore public confidence in the recruitment process through tighter monitoring and greater transparency.
Following the backlash over examination and recruitment malpractices that made national headlines, and with the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) set to conduct the preliminary examination for 319 Gazetted Probationer posts across the state on Sunday, November 15, Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar issued strict instructions to Deputy Commissioners to train all examination staff on the lines of election duty and submit a compliance report.
–IANS
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