ASO recruitment 2023: Selected ASO candidates allege injustice, stage dharna at OPSC office 

A day after the Orissa High Court scrapped the merit list prepared by the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) for recruitment to the posts of Assistant Section Officer (ASO), the selected candidates on Saturday staged a demonstration in front of the OPSC office in Cuttack. 

Alleging injustice meted out to them, the candidates staged the dharna. 

Notably, several candidates had moved the Orissa High Court alleging irregularities in the ASO recruitment examination. The controversy erupted when the OPSC brought the new ‘qualification mark rule’ to the table while determining the merit list. As per the new rule, a sectional cut-off was introduced wherein candidates needed to secure qualifying marks in each subject. 

The applicants had complained that the OPSC had never mentioned the new qualifying mark rule in its advertisement and brought it at a later stage after the written exams.

The court interfered in the matter after the OPSC published a merit list of 1,104 aspirants.

While hearing the case, the State’s apex court on Friday scrapped the merit list. The court ordered publication of a fresh merit list on the basis of marks obtained by candidates in the written examination, within two months.

The OPSC conducted the written examination to fill up 796 posts of Assistant Section Officers on August 27 last year and the results were published on November 7.