Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission bans 99 candidates for life over malpractices

Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) on Friday imposed a life ban on 99 candidates, 39 of whom made it to the top 100 list in the Group-IV examination, from appearing in examinations conducted by it for indulging in malpractices.

Disqualifying candidates from the examination, the TNPSC has released a fresh rank list by bringing the next 39 into the list of first 100 rank holders. The TNPSC took the extreme step after a CB-CID investigation found allegations of malpractices by candidates with the help of agents in two examination centres in Ramanathapuram district to be true.

CB-CID sources said more than 50 people have been involved in the scam and two tahsildars and 10 other government officials are being interrogated here.

The investigation found that the 99 candidates chose the Rameswaram and Keezhakari centres on the advice of agents, who helped them clear their exams through middlemen.

“The modus operandi was that the agents asked the candidates to shade answers using a special ink which disappears after a few hours. The middlemen then shaded the right answers in the answer sheets before it went for correction,” a police source said.

TNPSC ordered an investigation after 39 people who wrote exams in the aforesaid two centres made it to the first 100 list.

“This evoked suspicion and an inquiry were instituted. It has been found that allegations of malpractices are true and hence all the 99 candidates who indulged in malpractices have been disqualified and barred for life,” a TNPSC official said.

The TNSPC Group-IV examination was held on September 1, 2019, for which more than 16 lakh people appeared, while the process of verification of certificate began in November. The agency also clarified that there was no malpractice in any other centres in the state.