Amid the protests over the recently released RRB NTPC CBT-1 results, the Railway Ministry has issued a clarification to address the concerns of some candidates who alleged that several deserving candidates were deprived of the selection.
Some candidates have raised concerns over the process of shortlisting of candidates for the second stage of the ongoing recruitment examination under RRBs 'Centralised Employment Notice (CEN) No. 01/2019 (for Non-Technical Popular Categories - Graduate and Under-graduate)', results of which were announced on January 14, 2022.
In a release, Railways said that the procedure for shortlisting candidates for the second stage computer-based test (CBT) had already been given elaborately in the original notification. In the notification, thirteen categories were advertised and segregated into five groups based on the 7th CPC pay-scale levels, it said.
Besides, the stage-wise procedure of recruitment for each category was also clearly mentioned in the advertisement. "Every candidate was free to opt for all or any of these thirteen categories subject to conditions of eligibility.
While the first stage CBT was a common examination for all the candidates, the notification clearly stated that in the 2nd stage CBT, there would be a separate examination for each group (viz., Levels 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) with differing graded levels of difficulty.
"Accordingly, all posts falling within the same level shall have a common 2nd stage CBT. Therefore, if a candidate is eligible and has opted for more than one level (as per educational qualification), he/she will have to appear in the corresponding 2nd stage CBT for each level as given in Para 13.6 since the standard (difficulty level) for each group of posts will be different (i.e., of graduate or under-graduate level)," it clarified.
The clarification further read:
It is also brought to the attention of candidates that as per provisions the number of candidates to be called for NTPC Second Stage Exam is only 10 times the number of approved vacancies. This number of calling 10 times of the number of vacancies was increased to 20 times the number of vacancies in CEN 1/2019 to protect the interest of the candidates, when shortlisting is done across levels, and ensuring meritorious candidates are not denied an opportunity.
Hence, to cover a reasonable number of candidates for the 2nd stage CBT, the number of candidates to be shortlisted has been kept at twenty times the community-wise vacancies of posts notified based on their merit in the 1st stage CBT cum preference of posts.
In addition, while an eligible candidate will have to appear for each separate corresponding 2nd stage CBT as per his/her eligibility and option, he/she will be selected and final appointment will be against one post only. Hence the question of depriving any deserving candidate from selection does not arise.