Police jobs: Re-test by KEA right decision

The Karnataka government has taken the right decision in entrusting the conduct of re-examination for recruitment of police sub-inspectors (PSI) to the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA).

The High Court, which disposed of a batch of petitions challenging the re-examination, had held that a re-test should be held for PSI recruitment since the earlier test was rigged, and that the re-test should be conducted by an independent agency.

The KEA fits the bill since it has been conducting entrance tests for lakhs of students aspiring to get admitted to professional courses including medical, dental and engineering colleges, since 1994.

In 2006, the government had converted KEA into an autonomous body by registering it under the Societies Registration Act (1960). The re-examination to fill the 545 vacant posts of PSIs will be held on December 23.

The examinations were first held by the recruitment wing of the police department in October 2021 when the BJP government was in power. With several cases of malpractice and irregularities coming to light, the then government had annulled the entire process. The accused were allegedly found to have used bluetooth devices to commit malpractices, while some others had tampered with the OMR sheets. While 52 candidates were debarred permanently, investigations led to the arrest of the then Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Amrit Paul and several other police officers. Over 54,000 candidates had appeared for the examinations. Candidates who were selected provisionally had challenged the Government Order annulling the entire selection process and had demanded that a fresh test be conducted only for tainted candidates. The court held that such segregation was not possible as the selection of the petitioners too was not free from suspicion as the question paper had also been leaked before the examinations The arrest of a top-ranking police officer who was in charge of recruitments had also eroded public trust and confidence, the court said and held that the option exercised by the government to order re-examination was based on sound reasoning.

The controversy also draws attention to the role of the Karnataka Public Service Commission, which was set up to conduct recruitment tests for government jobs. With the body facing a credibility crisis following charges of corruption in its functioning, different government departments and bodies prefer to conduct recruitments on their own. But the cure has turned out to be worse than the disease, as the PSI recruitment scandal showed. If the purity of examinations has be maintained, to use the words of the High Court, the government should completely revamp KPSC and appoint personnel of highest integrity. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah should give this his immediate attention.