Gurugram: Only 61 candidates have made it to the interview stage of the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) recruitment exam for posts in the Haryana Civil Services (Executive Branch) this year, raising questions about the assessment process and sending shockwaves among the aspirants.
More than 90,000 candidates had applied for 100 posts in the Haryana Civil Services (Executive Branch) and other allied services, with around 45,000 finally appearing for the preliminary examination held on 21 May this year. Of the 45,000 candidates, 1,190 made it to the main exam held on 12-13 August.
The results of the main exam were declared on the HPSC website Monday, with 61 candidates chosen for the interview stage. Their viva voce will start on 9 October.
The HPSC website states that the final results are subject to the outcome of a case — pertaining to cancellation of the examination — pending before the Punjab & Haryana High Court.
Speaking to ThePrint Tuesday, Shweta Dhull, who calls herself a recruitment activist, alleged that candidates from Haryana were not able to clear the HPCS exam in large numbers because of a “faulty selection process” and “faulty framing of question papers”.
“How is it possible that candidates from Haryana clear the Union Public Service Commission examination and are often among the top ranks, but are not able to clear the HPSC exam?” she asked.
Mukesh Ahuja, secretary, HPSC, however, maintained that the results had been declared strictly according to the rules.
“The rules require candidates to obtain at least 33 per cent marks in Hindi and English subjects and 45 per cent marks in the aggregate. Several candidates failed to get 33 per cent in Hindi and English and several others who got qualifying marks in these subjects couldn’t get an aggregate of 45 per cent,” he said when contacted by ThePrint Tuesday.
Ahuja added that, going by the rules, the number of candidates chosen for the main examination has to be 12 times the number of posts to be filled up. He said the HPSC had picked 1,335 candidates for the mains, of which 1,190 sat the exam.
The results have left many of the candidates and their parents shocked.
“In my view, I did well in the main examination. I am not able to understand how the HPSC has assessed the candidates,” an aspirant who has finished an MTech course from a reputed university in Haryana told ThePrint Tuesday.
The candidate’s mother alleged that in the preliminary exam, “38 questions in the civil services aptitude test section were repeated from last year”.
“A writ petition seeking cancellation of the examination is pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court,” she added.
‘Hurting self-esteem’
HCS (Executive Branch) posts are the most sought-after Class 1 jobs in Haryana and those who become HCS officers are posted as subdivisional magistrates, city magistrates, deputy superintendents of police and special secretaries in the Secretariat, among others.
This is the second time in three months that fewer candidates than the number of vacancies announced by the HPSC — 61 for 100 posts — have cleared the recruitment exam.
In June this year, only 59 candidates could clear the recruitment test to fill 600 posts of agriculture development officers (ADOs) announced by the HPSC in 2022. ThePrint has accessed the result card for the ADOs available on the HPSC website.
Dhull pointed out that on the one hand, hundreds of agriculture graduates in Haryana were waiting for jobs, while on the other, only 59 were picked for 600 posts of ADOs.
Talking about the HPSC exam, Dhull said that 38 questions in the preliminary exam were found to be repeated from last year’s exam, but the commission went ahead with the main exam despite a petition pending before the high court in this regard. The petition is listed for hearing on 15 November.
According to Dhull, the HPSC’s declaration of results in spite of the controversy was “not only resulting in denial of jobs to eligible candidates but also hurting the self-esteem of all those who had sat the exam”.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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