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Tuesday, February 22, 2011

J&K PSC selection scam-II


PSC fixed 50% marks for viva to favour “paid candidates”

Only 9 selected out of top 50 in the merit list; All 35 doctors selected for KAS have been dropped as Assistant Surgeons

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Feb 22: Even as the transparency watchdogs---State Vigilance Organisation as well as Crime Branch---have conveniently shut their eyes to dubious selection of Veterinary Assistant Surgeons last week, tactics adopted by Jammu & Kashmir State Public Service Commission (PSC) selectors to accommodate their own favourites are tumbling out of cupboards. PSC insiders today revealed to Early Times that fixing 50% of the marks for viva voce and just 50% for academic qualification---first time anywhere in India---was the only way to drop high merit candidates and pick up the poor-rated clients of commission agents. It must serve as an eye-opener for the J&K watchers, including the poor interlocutors, that only nine lucky candidates have been selected from 50 on top of the merit list and all others have been picked up from the tail end.

Aatish Raina and Sonalika Mahajan were indisputably the most brilliant students of Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry of SKUAST-Jammu in 2009. With grade points of 8.33 each, both secured first position in their batch to pass the B V Sc. Both will be shortly receiving gold medals and certificates of distinction at the hands of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in Jammu on March 4th. Both appeared in the all-India level competitive examination of Indian Council for Agriculture Research (ICAR) to seek admission for post-graduation in the country’s top institutions.

Interestingly, there was again a tie. Sonalika secured second position in the country in Veterinary Sciences and she is now completing her post-graduation in Virology at Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly. She also qualified prestigious GRE with high scores and is now welcome for the highest learning in top universities in United States of America.

Parallel to Sonalika, the displaced Kashmiri Pandit Atish Raina obtained second position in the country in Animal Sciences. He is now completing his M V Sc at the prestigious National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal.

Both appeared in J&K PSC’s selection process of 2010 to become Veterinary Assistant Surgeons in their home state. While Raina stood at No: 2 in the PSC’s merit list in Jammu division, Sonalika followed him at No:3. Shocking but a fact that both found themselves dropped from the selection list prepared by PSC Members, Khizar Mohammad Wani and Dr H L Goswami, alongwith the subject expert, Dr Hafeez, of Tirupatti Veterinary College, Andhra Pradesh, and issued by PSC’s Secretary Ashraf Bukhari on February 17th.

Raina and Mahajan are among 10 candidates of the Batch-2009 of SKUAST-Jammu who have 8 and above points in their grading of merit but all of them have been dropped. All 10 ill-fated candidates figured on the top of the PSC merit short list. On the other hand, PSC selected Dr Goswami’s relative, Varsha Goswami, Khizar Mohammad Wani’s close relative Umar Yousuf Wani and Faisal Hassan Dedmari. They were at the tail end of the merit list and figured at serial numbers 55, 70 and 97 respectively. They are among 20-odd boys and girls who have been picked up from the tail end and selected.

A representation submitted to Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, by a group of the dropped candidates, alleges with purported proof an audio recording that most of those picked up from the tail and selected by PSC, paid huge amounts of Rs 5 Lakh to Rs 8 Lakh to the commission agents allegedly engaged by the selectors.

Hold your breath. Those unceremoniously dropped by the PSC selectors include 35 of highly meritorious candidates who have been selected by another team of the PSC selectors for the far more prestigious KAS on February 11th but have been dropped in the selection of Veterinary Assistant Surgeons. They include Dr Muzamil Maqbool Beigh of Budgam (who got First Position in B V Sc batch-2008 in SKUAST-Jammu and figured at serial No: 3 of PSC’s Kashmir merit list), Dr Sheeba Inayat of Sopore (who figured at serial No: 4 of the merit shortlist for Kashmir Division) and Dr Ata-ul-Munim Tak of Anantnag, who got second position in batch-2008, completed M V Sc with high merit from NDRI Karnal, is now doing Ph D from the same institute and has dozens of publications to his credit.

Dr Tak has also qualified UGC’s NET and ICAR’s Junior Reasearch Fellowship (JRF) with high scores and has recently been selected for KAS. He stood at serial NO: 9 of the PSC’s Kashmir merit list but was not found fit by the selectors for the poor post of a Veterinary Assistant Surgeon.

Luck also did not favour Dr Khursheed Ahmed Sofi who was topper of 2007 batch from SKUAST-Jammu, has completed his M V Sc with high merit and has scores of valued publications to his credit.

And, how does it all become possible in a state like Jammu and Kashmir? In almost all competitive examinations and professional selections in India, not more than 20% of the marks are fixed for interview. In most of the cases it is just 12 or 13 percent. Besides, most of these interviews are preserved with audio-visual recording. PSC in J&K had fixed 50% of the marks for viva and just 50% for all other academic and technical qualifications, experience and publications for the selection of Veterinary Assistant Surgeons.

In all-India level competitive examinations, not more than 13% marks are reserved for viva. For example, 2000 marks stand fixed for written examination and just 300 (13%) for interview in IAS, conducted by Union Public Service Commission. In Indian Forest Service (IFS), UPSC has fixed 1100 marks for written tests and 300 for interview. J&K PSC itself has fixed 1950 marks for written and just 250 (11%) for interview in KAS. For the current process of the selection of Range Officers Grade-I, J&K PSC has fixed 600 marks for written and 100 (14%) for interview. Again, J&K PSC had fixed 900 marks for written and just 140 (13%) for the recently completed process of the KCS Judicial.

PSC insiders disclosed that 50% of marks were fixed for viva of Veterinary Assistant Surgeons and some other categories of professionals only to drop the highly meritorious and qualified candidates and to facilitate appointment of blue-eyed boys and “paid candidates”.

“Selectors give 90 to 100 percent marks during the personality test to poorly qualified candidates and thus put them on the top. This happens inspite of the unwritten code that not less than 20 marks and not more than 37 should be awarded to the candidates”, said a source. He said that another code of ethics makes it incumbent upon the selectors not to hold examination and interviews of their “close relatives”. Both the codes stand brazenly violated in this controversial selection of the Veterinary Assistant Surgeons.

END


Highly qualified and meritorious candidates who figured among top 50 in PSC's 
merit shortlist but were dropped during interview by the selectors. 


JAMMU VENUE

Name of Candidate/Place in academic Merit Shortlist/Result

Atish Raina/2/Dropped 
Sonalika Mahajan/3/Dropped 
Amir Hussain/4/Dropped 
Sania Naseem /5/Dropped 
Bushra Andleeb/7/Dropped 
Gagandeep Singh/8/Dropped 
Bashir Ahmad Bhat/10/Dropped 
Sheikh Rafeh Ahmad/11/Dropped 
Ishtiyak Ahmad Mir/12/Dropped 
Nasir Altaf Zargar/13/Dropped 
Raja Wasim Yousuf/14/Dropped/ 
Sumit Mahajan/16/Dropped 
Vikrant Sudan/17/Dropped 
Aijaz Ahmad Dar/18/Dropped 
Nazam Khan/19/Dropped 
Vikas Dhar Bagati/20/Dropped 
Syed Shafiq Mukhtar/21/Dropped 
Shabeer Ahmad Hamdani/23/Dropped 
Shivani Gupta/24/Dropped 
---------------------------------------------

SRINAGAR VENUE

Name of Candidate/Place in academic Merit Shortlist/Result

Pervaiz Ahmad Dar/2/Dropped 
Muzammil Maqbool Beigh/3/Dropped 
Sheeba Inayat/4/Dropped 
Khursheed Ahmad Sofi/5/Dropped 
Mansoor Nabi /7/Dropped 
Ata ul Munim Tak/9/Dropped 
Mudasir Ali/10/Dropped 
Zahid Amin Kashoo/12/Dropped 
Shahnawaz Ahmad Bhat/13/Dropped 
Syed Adil Altaf Bukhari/14/Dropped 
Mir Shahnawaz Maqbool/15/Dropped 
Maria Abbas/16/Dropped 
Shahnaz Amin/17/Dropped 
Nafis Ibni Assad/18/Dropped 
Gousia Nazir/ 19/Dropped 
Ishtiyaq Ali Bhat/20/Dropped 
Shah Ahsan ul Haq/21/Dropped 
Iqbal Hussain Mir/22/Dropped
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