Question paper leak further delays land surveyors’ recruitment
The much-awaited recruitment of land surveyors is most likely to be delayed further, as a question paper of the examination conducted in October is alleged to have been leaked.
The examination was conducted by the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) on October 14 and 15 to recruit 1,834 land surveyors. As many as 9,000 candidates from across the State appeared for the examination. However, the alleged leaking of the question paper came to light a month after the examination was conducted.
The State Revenue department has ordered an internal inquiry into the alleged question paper leak. After a span of 15 years, the State government has initiated the process of recruiting land surveyors.
For several years in the past, farmers in the State were subjected to a lot of hardship due to shortage of land surveyors. In addition, the launch of the Urban Property Ownership Record (UPOR) Project in Bangalore lays stress on the process of recruitment of land surveyors. The alleged question paper leak was exposed after a few aggrieved candidates from Mysore faxed a six-page complaint to the office of the Commissioner, Survey Settlement and Land Records, Bangalore, two days after the completion of the examinations. (A copy of the complaint is available with Deccan Herald).
In the complaint, it is alleged that Paper II (Specific paper on Survey), which was conducted on October 15, was leaked and answer papers (along with the questions) were sold for Rs 1 lakh each.
A day before the examination, the answer papers were sold to about 300 candidates in Bangalore, Mysore, Tumkur, Hassan and Dakshina Kannada districts.
The complainants have even mentioned names and register numbers of a few candidates who bought the leaked answer papers.
A copy of the answer paper sold to the candidates is also attached with the complaint, with a request to verify it with the original answer papers of the candidates who had indulged in malpractice.
The original answer papers of all the 300 candidates (answer scripts that are now available with the KEA) are said to be identical with the copy of the answer scripts sold.
What surprises the most is that the 300 candidates have correctly answered all the 150 questions (multiple-choice questions). According to the department officials, the questions were tough enough to be cracked even by an expert in such a short time.
The involvement of KEA officials and the Directorate of Survey Settlement and Land Records in the alleged question paper leak cannot be ruled out, said official sources. The leaked question paper and its answer script was sold for a whopping Rs 35 lakh to an agent, who in turn sold it to as many as 300 students at Rs 1 lakh each.
Soon after receiving the complaint, Commissioner for Survey Settlement and Land Records, Bangalore, V Manjula sought the opinion of the KEA.
Also, she brought the complaint to the notice of Secretary to the Department of Revenue (Bhoomi and UPOR) Rajeev Chawla.
However, the KEA has denied there was any leak and denied the Commissioner had brought the matter to the notice of the Secretary. Not convinced with the KEA’s opinion, the Revenue Secretary ordered the Commissioner to conduct a detailed probe into some of the specific aspects of the complaint.
When contacted, Commissioner Manjula said the examination was conducted by the KEA and not by the department. “We do not know who framed the question paper and where they were printed. We are conducting an internal inquiry as per the directions of the State government,” she stated.
