SC to set up expert panel for exams

The Supreme Court on Thursday decided to set up a committee to deal with the frequent complaints of irregularities in competitive examinations.

It suggested the names of former Infosys and ex UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani and computer scientist Vijay P Bhatkar to formulate ways to tackle the problem.

A bench of Justices S A Bobde and Deepak Gupta said the committee should formulate ways to ensure free and fair conduct of examinations for government jobs.

Hearing a petition pertaining to the paper leakage of the SSC examinations 2017, the court said it may not be possible to ensure foolproof system, but the irregularities can be minimised. 

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for writ petitioner Shantanu Kumar, said the online examination of late has seen paper leakage and other irregularities.

An expert committee should be formed to prevent such possibilities, he said.

The court put the matter for consideration next week. 

The examination papers of the SSC Combined Graduate Level (CGL) 2017 were allegedly leaked, leading to huge protests from job seekers for several days.

Amid the protests, the SSC had recommended a CBI probe into the allegations of the paper leak.

The apex court had favoured cancelling the 2017 SSC examination.