BPSC Chairman rules out cancellation of Dec 13 exam, show cause notice served to 34 candidates

PATNA: Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) Chairman Parmar Ravi Manubhai on Tuesday ruled out cancellation of the 70th Integrated Combined Competitive Examination (CCE) 2024 held earlier this month which got mired in allegations of question paper leak.

He, however, made it clear that the BPSC was going ahead with re-examination of candidates who were assigned to the Bapu Pariksha Parisar examination centre on December 13 and disclosed that the re-examination will be held on January 4, 2025.

The BPSC recently cancelled its CCE's preliminary examination held at Bapu Pariksha Parisar in Patna's Kumhrar locality, where an official on duty died of heart attack following a ruckus created by "unruly" candidates on December 13. The BPSC chairman told PTI on Tuesday, "There is no question of cancelling the entire BPSC exam held on December 13. The BPSC decided to cancel its preliminary examination held at Bapu Pariksha Parisar centre only due to disruption created by a group of unruly aspirants as part of the conspiracy to disrupt the exam. The re-examination will be held on January 4 at some other centre in the city."

Around 12,000 candidates will appear in the January 4 re-examination, he said. The BPSC has also served show-cause notices to 34 aspirants, who were allegedly part of the disruption created at Bapu Pariksha Parisar centre on December 13.

"All 34 students have been asked to reply to the show-cause notices by December 26. The Commission will examine their replies and then will take appropriate decisions. In the case of those who fail to submit their replies, the Commission will take the decision on the basis of evidence available with it", the BPSC chairman said.

Also read BPSC paper leak rumours 'conspiracy', says commission; vows action

'Some BPSC protestors were non-examinees'

A group of aspirants is demanding cancellation of the entire exam of the BPSC held on December 13 across the state. They have been sitting on dharna at Gardani Bagh for the last four five days. The protesters contend that cancellation should be ordered across the board since re-examination for just one centre would go against the principle of "level playing field".

Meanwhile, Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, the Independent MP from Purnea on Monday visited the site of the protest and declared his support for the stir.

The Patna district administration issued a statement on Monday and said most protesters demanding the cancellation of the December 13 examination at Gardanibagh were non-examinees. On Monday evening, some of them allegedly entered Gardanibagh Hospital, harassing medical staff and damaging property.

Three people involved in protests — Rahul Kumar (32) from East Champaran, Ashutosh Anand (35) from Vaishali and Sujit alias Tsunami Guru (40) — are currently being treated at PMCH. Patna-based tutor and YouTuber Khan Sir who has come out in support of the stir, also met aspirants admitted at the PMCH on Tuesday.

"The protest is being led by non-candidates (gair pariksharthi) who are trying to mislead the genuine aspirants for political reasons", the Patna DM had said on Monday. "Some coaching institutes also seem to be behind the protest which has been marked by baseless and provocative statements, aimed at creating law and order problems. All are being identified for strict action", the DM said.

"A handful of the protesters on Monday went to the Gardani Bagh hospital, claiming they were on a hunger strike and had taken ill, but ended up manhandling the staff on duty. Three others got admitted to PMCH. Doctors there have confirmed that all of them are stable", the DM added.