Allahabad HC Appoints Retd Chief Justice Govind Mathur To Probe PSC (J)-2022 Exam 'Irregularities'

An independent inquiry has been ordered into alleged tampering of answer sheets and evaluation irregularities in the PSC(J)-2022 examination.

Prayagraj:The Allahabad High Court on Monday appointed retired Chief Justice Govind Mathur to conduct an independent inquiry into the allegations of irregularities in the Uttar Pradesh Judicial Services Civil Judge (Junior Division) Main Examination, 2022 or PSC(J)-2022, conducted by the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPCS).

Justice Mathur has been entrusted with the responsibility of investigating these flaws, reviewing the evaluation process and resolving the complaints of the candidates. The court has also directed the UPPSC to preserve all the records related to the examination till the completion of the investigation.

An order in this regard was pronounced by a division bench of Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh and Justice Donadi Ramesh after hearing senior advocate Syed Farman Ahmed Naqvi and advocate Shashwat Anand on the petitions filed by Shravan Pandey and others, alleging tampering of answer sheets, procedural flaws and wrongful exclusion from the merit list.

Shravan Pandey's petition alleges that his English answer sheet was tampered with.

In July last year, the UPPSC admitted serious errors during the evaluation process. Initial internal investigations revealed that wrong master fake codes were pasted on the answer sheets of two bundles, which led to the swapping of the marks of the candidates.

At least 50 candidates were affected by this error, which raised questions on the authenticity of the merit list and interview process. After this, many other candidates also filed petitions demanding issuance of appointment letters on the basis of allegations of discrepancies and irregularities in evaluation process.

The division bench, considering the similarity of these petitions and to maintain the sanctity of judicial appointments, emphasised upon the need for a comprehensive investigation and Justice Govind Mathur has been appointed.