Odisha Dental Surgeon recruitment: 11 applicants with low marks selected, OPSC tells High Court

The dental surgeon appointments in Odisha have come under intense scrutiny after 11 candidates with low marks were selected and got jobs, casting serious doubt over the merit-based selection system managed by the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC).

OPSC Secretary Satyabrata Ray, personally appeared before the Orissa High Court, admitted to the irregularities and submitted an affidavit outlining the procedural discrepancies identified in these 11 appointments. He also promised to retract the hiring recommendations for these 11 involved individuals owing to the irregularities.

Hearing the case, the top court expressed serious concerns after the allegations of irregularities in the recruitment process. After the shocking revelations, the HC directed the petitioners to submit their responses in the follow-up hearing scheduled for December 16.

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Ray admitted that six candidates who scored more than the cut-off marks were not recommended, while the 11 candidates with lower scores are currently serving as dental surgeons following their appointment in 2019.

Expressing dissatisfaction over this, the bench directed the petitioners to submit their response for next hearing on December 16. The court said that it is committed to probe into the contentious appointments and assess the legal and procedural integrity of the recruitment process of the dental surgeon recruitment conducted by OPSC.

Earlier, on Monday, the top court had directed OPSC to publish the revised merit list of dental surgeons on its official website.

“We direct the OPSC to put the revised merit list on its website by tomorrow indicating the circumstances in which the said merit list was prepared,” the two judge bench of Chief Justice Chakradhari Singh and Justice Savitri Ratho had said.

Worth mentioning, OPSC issued an advertisement inviting applications for 198 dental surgeons in Group-A (junior) category of Odisha Medical Services (Dental) cadre posts on March 17, 2018. The written exam was conducted on May 6, 2018. Later, 171 candidates were recommended for appointment on August 9, 2018.