Bhubaneswar: The matter of alleged irregularities in the Assistant Section Officer (ASO) merit list published by Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) has now reached the Supreme Court, with the Apex court issuing notices to the Odisha government and OPSC.
A special leave petition (SLP) filed by petitioner Rajat Mishra prompted the Supreme Court’s involvement.
The Orissa High Court December 22, 2023, ruled that there were no irregularities in the selection process conducted by the OPSC for ASO recruitment. The merit list – which has as many as 1,104 candidates – was upheld by the High Court.
Counsel representing OPSC, Pradipta Mohanty said, “OPSC has absolute authority to shortlist candidates. OPSC can determine the qualifying marks and it could be the aggregate mark or subject-wise. It was published in the OPSC advertisement as well. The government has also mentioned in its requisition that the OPSC can adopt any selection process.”
Mentionably, the ASO recruitment examination was conducted August 27, 2022 and the results were declared November 7, 2022. A number of applicants had moved Orissa High Court citing irregularities in the recruitment process.
According to reports, the dispute centres around the new ‘qualification mark rule’ that the OPSC introduced while publishing the merit list. As per the new rule, a sectional cut-off was implemented, requiring candidates to achieve qualifying marks in each subject.
The candidates objected that a new qualifying mark criterion was introduced later — after the written tests were conducted — and that, OPSC had not mentioned about the change in selection criteria in any notification before the written examination took place.
PNN
