RRB NTPC exam row: Railways constitute committee
Highlights
- Violence erupted in Bihar, UP over alleged irregularities in Railways' NTPC and Level 1 exams
- Railways has now suspended its recruitment process
- Railways also issued a set of FAQs to allay any doubts
A high-power committee comprising of senior officials has been formed to look into the concerns raised by candidates in regard to the results of 1st Stage Computer Based Test (CBT) of NTPC exam without affecting existing shortlisted candidates.
The candidates had 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 14.01.2022. RRBs have postponed the 2nd Stage CBT of NTPC and 1st Stage CBT of Level one.
In response to the concerns that graduate candidates are getting undue benefit of becoming eligible for both Graduate and 10+2 level posts, Railways has elucidated that the integration of recruitments for Graduate and 10+2 level posts have been done to save time, energy and effort which has been proved useful during COVID 19 pandemic. Also, standards of Computer Based Test 1 (CBT 1) have been kept of 10+2 level so as to not to put disadvantage to 10+2 level students and it is only in CBT 2 that standards will be different across levels.
With regards to the delay in recruitment process, Railways has observed that the recruitment process has got delayed due to COVID 19 pandemic since March 2020 and various restrictions imposed on that account by various states. The capacity that can be utilized for CBT has also got impacted because of social distancing norms leading to increase in number of shifts. 1st Stage CBT of CEN 01/2019 involved 133 shifts.
Meanwhile, Indian Youth Congress has filed a case with NHRC alleging violation of human rights of students protesting against conduct of RRB NTPC examinations, at the hands of the police forces of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The IYC in a statement on Thursday said students in various parts of India have been protesting since January 25 over issues related to the RRB NTPC exams. Against this the police has "cracked down upon the students" and media reports on this are all over the social media, the IYC alleged in its statement.
Violence had erupted in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh over alleged irregularities in the Railways' Non-Technical Popular Categories (NTPC) and Level 1 exams which forced the national transporter to suspend its recruitment process and form a committee to address the issue.
In a set of FAQs issued on Thursday, the national transporter sought to allay any doubts over its process to choose candidates for its notified vacancies.
