WBSSC job case: Special focus on preservation of OMR sheets, retention of scanned copies (Ld)

Kolkata, May 30 (IANS) The West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) has given special emphasis on the preservation of hard copies of optical mark recognition sheets to be used in the written examination and retention of the scanned copies or mirror images of those OMR sheets as it issued notifications for fresh recruitment of teaching staff for the secondary and higher secondary sections in state-run schools on Friday.

The written examination in the fresh recruitment will be conducted in the first week of September.

The hard copies of the OMR sheets will now be preserved for at least two years. Earlier, the copies were preserved for just one year, as was followed by the commission’s recruitment panel for 2016. The entire batch of 2016 was cancelled following a Supreme Court order last month.

At the same time, the scanned copies or mirror images of the OMR sheets will be retained in the server of the WBSSC for at least 10 years. The panel for the fresh recruitment will be valid for one year as earlier. However, WBSSC has reserved the right to extend the term of the panel for another six months if necessary.

Explaining why special focus is given this time on the preservation of the hard copies of the OMR sheets and retention of their scanned copies or mirror images for longer periods, a state education department official said that the initiative had been prompted since during court proceedings on irregularities in the recruitment of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching jobs in the commission’s panel for 2016 at Calcutta High Court first and then at the Supreme Court, severe lapses on the part of the commission in the preservation of the OMR sheets surfaced.

First, the original OMR sheets were destroyed just one year after the date of the written examination, instead of following the past practice of preserving such sheets for at least three years after the date of the examination.

Secondly, neither the scanned copies nor the mirror images of the OMR sheets were preserved. Finally, the commission outsourced the work of evaluation and preservation of the OMR sheets instead of using WBSSC’s own infrastructure, which was adequate for that purpose.

It was because of all these lapses that the segregation of “genuine” and “tainted” candidates became almost impossible, thus prompting the Calcutta High Court first and the apex court thereafter to cancel the entire panel of 25,753 jobs.

--IANS

src/dpb