A day after agreeing to release the marks obtained by candidates who sat for the recent MCS preliminary examination, the Meghalaya Public Service Commission (MPSC) has today changed its mind.
During a meeting with a KSU delegation yesterday, MPSC Chairman Paul Reader Marwein agreed to release the marks of all the candidates who sat for the MCS preliminary examination.
However, today the commission decided not to display the marks of the examination citing objection from the candidates due to potential infringement of their right to privacy which is their fundamental right guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
“This is for general information of all candidates that proposal for public disclosure of marks for the MCS preliminary examination has been strongly objected by aggrieved candidates due to potential infringement of their right to privacy which is their fundamental right guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. That, the public disclosure of examination marks without the explicit consent of the candidates is not only unnecessary but also disproportionate. It may subject the candidates to unwarranted scrutiny and potential prejudice, which might have detrimental effects on their personal and professional lives. Furthermore, it contravenes the principle of individual dignity. Hence, the marks will not be displayed in the public domain. However, the Commission is enabling viewing of their own marks through an OTP based system,” said a public notice issued by the MPSC secretary today.
The KSU had the MPSC advertisement dated July 18, 2023 mentioned in para 8 that “candidates who will be called to appear for the MCS Main Examination shall not be more than 15 times the number of vacancies declared.”
“Thus, with the total of 35 vacancies advertised, the total number of candidates to appear in the mains examinations should be 525 but now the number has risen up to 642 candidates making a mockery of the commission’s own self-imposed rule,” the KSU said.
It also demanded that the marks secured by all the candidates (selected and unselected) must be made public for transparency and ensuring the faith of the public at large towards the MPSC.
However, the MPSC on July 27 clarified that after the declaration of the result of MCS preliminary examination, one complainant filed a petition to the commission on January 25, 2024 seeking answer key for the examination. It also said that the answer key was accordingly, supplied to the complainant on February 6, 2024. The complainant submitted a representation to the commission on February 9, 2024 stating that the official answer key to three questions was wrong.
The MPSC also said that after receiving the representation, an internal review of the claims of the complainant was immediately looked into and thereafter, it was decided to call for a third party to verify and evaluate the claim of the complainant.
“Accordingly, an expert was engaged to review only the correctness of three questions which were challenged as wrong answer key. The expert after examining the questions and the answers agreed that the errors have occurred. The Commission took the matter seriously and decided to comply with the reassessment of the OMR sheets only for those three questions,” it added.
According to the MPSC, the three questions carry two marks each, making a total of six marks and if the candidate gets all the three answers correct he/she gets six marks. It also said that the reassessment was made for the three questions only that are challenged and the entire OMR sheet was not reassessed.
The MPSC also said that the number of candidates for different categories for the MCS preliminary examination as declared on December 15, 2023 are – Unreserved (112), Khasi-Jaintia (92), Garo (84) and Other ST/SC (86).
“Those candidates after reassessment of the three questions whose marks are as per the cut-off mark and above are considered eligible and included in the additional list. A total of 62 candidates were found to have qualified and notified in the additional list. The Commission has in order to ensure fairness and do justice to the complaint as the official answer key was wrong, decided to give opportunity to him and others who have not filed a petition. As outlined in the notification, instead of offering relief to only the petitioner, the doctrine of equality was applied to all 13,451 candidates for reassessment of the three questions only, while keeping the remaining questions intact out of which 62 fresh candidates secured the cut-off, in addition to the 580 candidates of the first list, are declared to have qualified for the MCS (Mains) Examination,” the MPSC clarified.
