Massive corruption alleged in OSSSC Group-C recruitment

Massive corruption charges have been brought against the Odisha Sub-Ordinate Staff Selection Commission (OSSSC) in connection with the recruitment for various Group-C posts in the State. Putting a question mark over the results of the written examinations for the recruitment of posts like Forester, Forest Guard, and Livestock Inspector, several candidates have alleged that government jobs are being sold in Odisha.

The candidates have questioned how some students, who had performed miserably in the PEO examinations, managed to be included in the merit list of the Combined Examination Group-C results?

After checking the results, several candidates have become suspicious of corrupt activities in the recruitment process.

For instance, take the case of a candidate from Gajapati district, who had scored -7 out of 180 in the PEO examination. However, he managed to score 100 out of 150 marks in the Forest Guard written examination. Similarly, another candidate, who had scored only 9.5 per cent mark in the PEO examination, scored 99.984 percentile in the Forest Guard written examination.

The candidates are suspicious of the fact that how some candidates, who had performed miserably in the PEO examinations, managed to be top scorers in the Forest Guard written examination. They have demanded the cancellation of the Combined Examination for the recruitment of various Group-C posts. They have also threatened to stage protests in front of the OSSSC office if their demands are not met.

“We are in doubt about the role of OSSSC secretary in the corruption. We will help the investigating officials if the matter is investigated,” alleged Bikram, a candidate.

The candidates have further alleged that the marks of certain candidates were raised by hacking computers.

“How a candidate, who had performed miserably in the PEO off-line examination before a year, managed to get the highest mark in the on-line Forest Guard written examination. Marks of some candidates were raised by hacking the system,” said Somnath Hota, another candidate.

However, cyber experts are of the opinion that it is not possible to hack the questions and answers of the examinations.

“The questions are kept in a secured server without having internet connection. If it is hacked, only one person will be able to take advantage. Question papers might have been leaked. However, only investigation will make it clear whether the question papers were leaked or not,” said cyber expert Prashant Sahu.

However, no reactions were received from OSSSC authorities in this regard.