‘Will probe mobile phone activities of other rank-holders also’: Kerala PSC chairman
The Chairman of the Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) had a lot of explaining to do on Tuesday regarding the controversy surrounding the irregularities in the Public Service Commission (PSC) examinations, after the names of three SFI (Students Federation of India) members of the Thiruvananthapuram University College, accused in a stabbing case at the same college, were removed from the police constable rank list.
Sivaranjit, Nizam and Pranav of the SFI — the student’s wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), have been barred for life from taking the PSC examinations after an Internal Vigilance Committee discovered major irregularities and malpractices in the police constable examinations of the Kerala PSC in which Sivaranjith had secured the first rank, Pranav got the second rank and Nizam had secured 27th rank. With the help of cyber police, these three have come under the suspicion of using their mobile phones through which they allegedly received the answers for the examination through SMS.
Addressing the media on Tuesday, MK Sakeer, the Chairman of the Kerala PSC stated that the Commission will register a complaint with the police regarding the findings of the Vigilance Committee and will request an investigation into all the other rank holders as well, regarding any sort of malpractices. “We have already sought the help of the cyber police to investigate into the mobile phone activities of all other rank holders as well,” added Sakeer.
By reiterating that no harm has been done to the trust of the people in the PSC as an institution, Sakeer stated that the PSC has always been at the forefront of tackling any malpractices that have been reported over the years. “There have been issues of examination hall malpractices in the past as well, and we have investigated into each and every issue and solved it.” The chairman said that PSC takes all complaints very seriously and that even if they receive a complaint from an anonymous letter, they will look into it.
“As far as the PSC is concerned, whether or not a complaint is controversial, we will investigate the matter and take necessary action,” he added.
Questions were raised regarding the irregularities in the PSC examinations after bundles of Kerala University answer sheets were seized by the police from the house of Sivaranjit, who is the main accused in the stabbing of an undergraduate student at the University College during clashes. The seizure of answer sheets was followed by the findings that three of the accused were also rank holders in the PSC examinations which had raised eyebrows.
Following the allegations, an internal Vigilance Committee led by senior police officials was formed to look into the matter. During the investigations, the statements of the fellow candidates as well as invigilators of the three exam centres were taken and they indicated no discrepancies, according to the chairman. As part of the investigation, the Vigilance Committee looked into the mobile phone activities of the three students.
“It was found that the accused were receiving text messages from a couple of numbers during the exam timings and this led to the suspicion about them using unfair means in the examination hall,” said Sakeer.
According to Sakeer, the ‘Rules of Procedure (22)’ of the PSC state that a candidate can be disqualified from the rank list and barred from taking the examinations in future if there is a suspicion of malpractice and that a police complaint can be registered against the candidate in this regard.
“More than anyone, the PSC is hell-bent in finding out all the persons involved in the malpractice and in taking the necessary steps at the earliest. And we are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that all the issues are solved promptly. We have decided to file a police complaint based on the reports regarding the mobile phone allegations,” said the PSC chairman.