PSC under fire over alleged exam fraud

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC),the apex recruitment body,has come under fire in the wake of an internal probe report finding malpractices in its recent police constable examination, in which the University College stab case accused had secured high rank.

The internal vigilance committee of the PSC had found that the accused and former SFI leaders R Shivaranjith and Pranav had received a large number of SMSs in their mobile phones from a phone number during the time of the exam.

The interim probe report came days after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said that there was an effort to tarnish the image of the PSC, which functions with "high credibility".

Though PSC chairman M K Sakeer on Tuesday claimed that no malpractice would be allowed in the exams and the Commission's credibility had not been lost, opposition leader in the assembly Ramesh Chennithala demanded a CBI probe into the allegations.

Addressing a press meet here,Sakeer said the PSC had conducted a reliable probe against all the charges which had surfaced against it.

A detailed investigation would be conducted on all those people who had figured in the first 100 positions in the police constable rank list, he said.

Their mobile call lists would be examined and the recruitment from the list would be withheld till the probe was completed, the Chairman added.

Sakeer also said that neither the invigilators nor co-candidates had complained that the accused had conducted any malpractice during the time of examination.

"It was found during the probe that SMSs were sent to the mobiles of the accused from a phone number during the time of the examination.

But it is not clear whether the accused had used the phones inside the exam hall or somebody else used the gadget," he said.

Based on the probe report, the Commission decided to impose a lifetime ban on all the accused from writing the PSC examinations.

Meanwhile, Chennithala said on Tuesday that the internal vigilance report had vindicated the Opposition UDF's stand that there was irregularities and malpractices in the conduct of the PSC examinations.

He also reiterated his demand for a CBI probe into the alleged exam fraud.