Kerala PSC Exam Row: Evaluation errors change candidates' ranks; chairman summoned again

The Crime Branch probing irregularities in examinations and appointments conducted by the Kerala PSC has issued a fresh summons to its chairman, M R Baiju, asking him to appear for interrogation, sources said on Saturday. Baiju has been directed to appear before the investigation team on November 10.

According to Crime Branch officials, he had skipped the second round of interrogation scheduled for Thursday, citing the pendency of a petition filed by the Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) seeking to quash the case. The investigation team had questioned Baiju, four PSC members, the commission's secretary and the examination controller last month. The state government had constituted a Crime Branch Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe alleged irregularities in the PSC recruitment examination for posts in the State Planning Board.

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The investigation found that 10 descriptive questions in Economics, carrying a total of 58 marks, had not been assigned to the appropriate evaluators due to errors in the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system, leaving the answer sheets unevaluated. Following a complaint by Shyam Krishna, who had initially secured the third rank, a revaluation was conducted, after which he moved to the first rank. Arun J Pradeep, who had initially secured the first rank, slipped to fifth place following the revaluation, officials said. The Crime Branch subsequently expanded its investigation to cover alleged irregularities in other recruitment examinations conducted by the PSC and registered three more cases. So far, the Crime Branch has arrested PSC Deputy Secretary P Satheesh and Additional Secretary R Hari.