OSSC issues show cause notice to 55 candidates in question paper leak case

BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Staff Selection Commission issued show cause notice to 55 candidates of the JE (Civil) Main Examination to explain why they would not be barred for lifetime from recruitment of the panel, a top official revealed on Saturday. This was informed by OSSC chairperson Abhay. Taking to Twitter, Abhay said: "In pursuance of a report from SP, Balasore, OSSC has yesterday (on 28.07.2023) issued show cause notice to 55 candidates as to why they shall not be barred for lifetime from recruitment of OSSC." Abhay also informed that efforts were on to link the remaining 37 candidates with their application in coordination with Balasore police. Some more information has been requested from the police to help link the candidates with the application, he said.

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"OSSC is committed to taking exemplary action against all candidates who are involved in unfair practice, including question leak," Abhay said. The OSSC action came following Balasore SP Sagarika Nath recommending the recruitment panel to debar certain candidates, who during the investigation, were found to have come in contact with the racket that leaked the question paper for the JE (Civil) Main examination on June 16. The OSSC on July 23, cancelled the Written Examination for JE (Civil) conducted on July 16, 2023, after Balasore SP confirmed that the question paper leak of the test was leaked.

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The Commission has meanwhile rescheduled the examination to September 3. The Balasore Police at a press conference said that the question paper was leaked from the printing press located outside the state where the OSSC had given for printing of the same. So far the police have arrested 17 persons including the mastermind in this connection. The mastermind is a Bihar government employee. The arrested persons hailed from Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. Two of the accused persons arrested in the question paper leak case were teachers serving under the Odisha government. The Balasore SP has also recommended action against the two Odisha teachers for their alleged involvement in the question paper racket. Meanwhile, the opposition BJP had demanded a CBI probe into the OSSC question paper leak incident while Congress wants a High Court-monitored SIT investigation.