KPSC mix-up leaves candidates gasping

KAS aspirants appearing for the ongoing KPSC exams were in for a shock on Saturday when they found that the question paper given to them did not belong to the subject for which they were writing the exam.

Owing to a mix up in the question papers, aspirants were baffled to see questions pertaining to General Studies I, II, III and IV and optional paper Geography, while they were appearing for the Essay paper on Saturday.

Candidates said the question papers given to them by mistake belonged to the papers that they were supposed to appear for on Sunday and Monday. It is said that the mix up happened in three exam centres in Bengaluru and one centre in Dharwad. 

Meanwhile, in a press statement that has been put up on the KPSC website, the commission’s secretary Manoj Kumar Meena has stated that the wrong papers which candidates received were not the papers for any other subjects of the Mains exam.

“These questions will not appear in the subsequent papers. Also, exams for the rest of the papers will be held as per schedule,” he said.

Terming the wrong distribution as “question paper leak”, candidates sought justice. “The KPSC staff told us that they would look into the matter. There was no trouble for the Essay paper on Saturday as the candidates chose to write the Essay and discuss the wrong distribution with competent staff after the examination,” Kiran Yadav, one of the candidates who received the wrong question booklet, told Deccan Herald.

The examination for the Essay Paper was scheduled between 9:30 am and 12:30 pm. The staff distributed the question booklets around 9:30 am and a few candidates noticed the wrong distribution around 9:45 am.

They immediately alerted the room invigilators who quickly collected the question booklets that were distributed and distributed the question booklets meant for Essay Paper, Yadav added.

Yadav and Abhishekh approached the Byatarayanapura police and submitted a petition.

“We received a petition by the two about the wrong distribution of the papers. We forwarded the same to KPSC chairman Manoj Kumar Meena and administrative officer Shashikala for further action,” said the police inspector.

The police did not register a case as it was not a criminal offence and treated the students’ petition as a grievance, he added.

Detailed report sought
A senior professor, who is involved in KPSC examinations at different levels, said: “The mistakes might have happened at the KPSC head officer-level while labelling bundles that contain question booklets. The supervisors distribute the bundles based on the labels and the bundles are opened only a few minutes prior to the scheduled start of the examination. However, the room invigilators should verify the label and title of the subject before distribution. Hence, the room invigilators and supervisors are also partly responsible for the leak.”

KPSC question papers are printed outside Karnataka and wrong labelling might have taken place the at the printing venue. KPSC should reset the question paper and conduct examinations accordingly, he added. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has instructed chief secretary Kaushik Mukharjee to submit a detailed report.