Question paper leak: Aspirants suspect OSSC involvement; Opposition alleges job scam

The job aspirants suspected the involvement of top officials of the Odisha Staff Selection Commission (OSSC) in the recent question paper leak of CGL examination unearthed in Balasore.

“The government is completely involved in this job scam. We had our exams scheduled for 16th. If we had not protested the question leak, then the government and the Commission would have put the scam under the rug,” said an OSSC CGL aspirant, Soumyaranjan Pradhan.

Similarly, another examinee Bibhuti Mohapatra said, “While the authorities took seven days to confirm that the question papers belong to the OSSC, they did not take even a day to give clean chit to the OSSC authorities. I suspect Balasore SP herself is involved in letting the main accused go scot-free.”

10 persons were detained by the Balasore Police on the morning of July 16 while they were trying to strike a deal for the question papers ahead of the Combined Graduate Level (CGL) exam conducted by the Odisha Staff Selection Commission.

It is pertinent to mention here that, Balasore SP, Sagarika Nath gave a clean chit to the OSSC authorities earlier on Tuesday when she categorically said there is no evidence of any involvement of OSSC authorities in the question paper leak incident.

“All the accused arrested from Odisha worked as middlemen, while the ringmaster operates from another state. As of now, we did not find involvement of OSSC authorities in this racket,” said Nath while speaking to OTV.

Meanwhile, the Opposition is up in arms over the question paper leak incident and slammed the Biju Janata Dal (BJD)-led Odisha government over the issue.

“All the State government appointments have been marred with corrupt practices. There is no hiding the fact that job aspirants are paying bribes to the tune of Rs 40 lakh for govt jobs. This scam needs to be exposed. We will definitely raise the issue in the next Assembly session and take to the streets,” said Opposition Chief Whip, Mohan Majhi.

Similarly, the Congress alleged that it is another way to arrange election funds for the BJD. “The whole of government is neck deep in this scam. The OSSC has become the most corrupt department of the State government,” alleged senior Congress leader Jayadev Jena.

However, question paper leaks are not new to the Odisha Staff Selection Commission. In the past too, the exam has been cancelled due to leaks and sometimes due to errors.

The accountant exam was cancelled in April 2023. Not only the OSSC, there is no transparency in the ASO examination conducted by OPSC as well.

The fate of lakhs of ASO aspirants is hanging in the balance due to court cases alleging murky practices by the OPSC.

Apart from that, the combined police service exam was also cancelled by the Police Recruitment Council. Even in the recent Panchayat Executive Officer or PEO examination, complaints were received from various places alleging kickbacks in the exams.

However, the BJD refuted all the allegations. Party spokesperson, Lenin Mohanty said, “We want eligible students should get jobs as soon as possible and in a transparent manner. Odisha’s employment situation is way better than the National average.”