HC Junks Review Petitions On Scrapping Merit List For ASO Recruitment In Odisha

PC: Manas Muduli/Twitter

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court on Monday rejected review and writ petitions filed by some candidates, earlier shortlisted by the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) after the Assistant Section Officer (ASO) recruitment examination.

The court also upheld its previous order regarding publication of a fresh merit list.

In May, the bench of Justice Aditya Kumar Mohapatra scrapped the merit list prepared by the OPSC for recruitment to the posts of 796 assistant section officers (ASO) in the state Secretariat amid allegations of irregularities in the selection process. The commission was asked to publish fresh merit list within two months on the basis of marks obtained by candidates in the written examination.

The recruitment examination was conducted on August 27, 2022 and the results were announced on November 7. More than 1.48 lakh candidates appeared in the written examination and 2,408 of them secured the requisite qualifying marks in each subject. Among them, 1,104 candidates were shortlisted, which was approximately 1.5 times of the total vacancies, on the basis of aggregate for document verification and computer skill test.

The controversy centres around the OPSC’s decision to introduce “qualifying marks” (a minimum score), known as sectional cut-off, in each paper to determine the merit list. The aspirants argued that the OPSC did not mention the new qualifying mark rule in its initial advertisement and instead introduced it after the written exams. They also staged a dharna outside the OPSC office in Cuttack on November 10.

The minimum qualifying marks was 40% for general category and 30% for aspirants belonging to socially and educationally backward classes (SEBC), Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST).