Amid alleged irregularities surrounding competitive exams like NEET-UG and NET, the Uttar Pradesh government plans to implement new policies to ensure that recruitment exams in the state are conducted in a free and fair manner.
Four agencies will be given the responsibility for conducting the recruitment examinations, as per state government sources.
Additionally, candidates will be required to go outside their home board (Grih Mandal) to appear for the exams. However, this restriction will not apply to disabled individuals and women. The sources also informed that if an exam has more than four lakh candidates, it will be conducted in two phases.
To prevent rigging in results, the scanning of OMR sheets will be done by the Commission and the Board itself. A decision has also been made regarding the setting up of examination centres. Two categories have been created for this purpose.
The first category includes Government Inter Colleges, Medical Colleges, and Engineering Colleges. In the second category, aided schools have been placed. The sources also stated that examination centres will not be established in schools and colleges without financial support.
Notably, on February 24, the Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment and Promotion Board cancelled the written examination for direct recruitment-2023 to the posts of reserved civilian police in Uttar Pradesh Police following allegations of a question paper leak.
More than 48 lakh candidates participated on February 17 and 18 in the constable recruitment exam in Uttar Pradesh. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the government decided to cancel the police constable recruitment examination held statewide on February 17 and 18 after the examination paper was allegedly leaked.
The paper leak also led the Uttar Pradesh government to sack Renuka Mishra, Chairperson of the Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment Board. Rajeev Krishna has been given additional charge as Recruitment Board Chairperson.
The Uttar Pradesh government has also issued an order to investigate the alleged irregularities and rigging in the examination of the Review Officer/Assistant Review Officer (RO/ARO), not just in the paper but at the government level.