The Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) is going about its business as usual and is set to announce the date for the Mains exam despite continued protests by a section of students demanding re-exam of the preliminary test of the 70th combined competitive examination, allegations by some coaching teachers on social media and petitions before the court.
“The communique will be issued announcing the date for the Mains examination very soon so that the exam could be conducted as per schedule by April end. The students who have cleared preliminary test should not suffer. The matter is in court and we are not affected by unsubstantiated allegations made by anyone,” said BPSC secretary Satyaprakash Sharma.
He said the commission had served notices to those making wild allegations to mislead the students and tarnish the image of a constitutional body through social media without understanding the functioning of the commission and having sound proof. “Sounding big on social media can draw viewers and serve their purpose, but not go beyond. We cannot do that, but we will certainly think of defamation against them,” he added.
However, the commission has also been using its social media handles to promptly term as ‘fake’ any allegation against it on social media. “The allegations from so-called coaching teachers on social media are baseless and aimed at creating distrust. The students are cautioned against such unfounded allegations so that they are not waylaid,” said a communique.
The secretary said that the commission would not function as per the whims and fancies of coaching institutes. “They may have their own axe to grind, but for us that is not important. The students having cleared PT are preparing for Mains. We also conducted 69th BPSC and we have to see beyond 70th. Through facial recognition of protesting students, we also tried to ascertain their score in PT. Many of them were not even examined and those who are protesting scored below average,” he added.
Interestingly, the BPSC is finding itself in the firing line of those coaching teachers whom it had called for consultation prior to the exam when there were protests over normalisation issue. The BPSC has also been in controversy over teachers’ recruitment examination.
BPSC joint secretary Kundan Kumar said that the BPSC had taken serious note of the unfounded allegations. “The matter is in court and if anyone has anything to say, they could approach there, become intervener or go to the investigating agencies. The burden of proof lies on the person making the allegations. It is the commission that takes any decision, not any individual. People having no idea about the way the commission functions can speak anything,” he added.
JD-U MLC and party spokesman Neeraj Kumar also said those running coaching classes were creating confusion to grab media attention. “They should know that the remedy lies in the court, if they have proof, as they claim on social media,” he added.
The Patna High Court had on January 16 heard petitions demanding re-test in view of alleged irregularities filed by students backed by Jan Suraj Party of Prashant Kishor for around 80 minutes and refused to stay the result, but made it clear in the order that “any result of the preliminary examination, conducted by the Commission, will be the subject matter of the final outcome of this petition”.
On January 23, BPSC released the PT results. Out of 328990 candidates who took the test, 21581 clearing the preliminary test. The re-exam was conducted on January 4 for just one centre in Patna, the Bapu Exam Centre, where it was cancelled due to delay, lapses and students’ unrest on
December 13.
The court had asked the BPSC a detailed counter affidavit, which was filed on February 14. The petitioners, Anand Legal Aid Forum Trust, wished to go through the BPSC reply and respond through a rejoinder affidavit. All the petitions have now been clubbed.
The court has also asked the BPSC to preserve the CCTV footage of the examination centres. The court has fixed next hearing on February 28. The petitioners had first moved the Supreme Court, which asked them to appproach the HC first under Article 226.
Despite protests by students, all the opposition parties at one point of time competing with one another to express solidarity with them for nearly a fortnight and Jan Suraj Party founder and poll strategist Prashant Kishor sitting on indefinite hunger strike, the BPSC all along stuck to its stand that there would be no re-test of the 70th combined competitive examination for all the students, while the government has shown so far no inclination to intervene.
The protesting students are, however, still continuing for intervention from the Chief Minister. They had earlier met the Governor twice and also presented their case before the Chief Secretary.
Leave a Reply