Chennai: The vigilance department of the railways has made a startling revelation. The integrity watchdog has picked gaping holes in the examinations conducted for departmental appointment and promotions.
Irregularities pointed out cannot be dismissed as ‘hearsay’ now after the chief personnel officer of the railways acknowledging the findings of the vigilance department and advising concerned officers to mend their ways.
A letter sent on behalf of the chief personnel officer (CPO) to his deputies, copy of which was marked to the general secretaries of the four major employees trade unions, bears testimony to the vigilance findings about the examinations conducted by SR.
“During the vigilance check conducted in one of the divisions in regard to the evaluation of answer sheets in one of the departmental selection, it was noticed that the marks were fully awarded to the candidates who have written wrong answers in the descriptive type questions,” the letter written by a senior personnel officer (rules) on behalf of the CPO on August 18, 2015 read (DC has a copy of the letter).
While blaming the evaluators, the vigilance department has not spared the babus conducting the examinations.
An indictment of the top officer may be gleaned from the letter which reads, “It was further noticed that the question paper setters had not provided the gist / key for the narrative type questions and which alone has lead to the abnormal awarding of marks for the wrong answers.”
Drawing the attention of his deputies to the vigilance finding, the personnel department top brass have also instructed their deputies to “scrupulously follow” a railway board letter dated August 27, 2014 that stipulates that the cadre personnel officer should ensure that all gist / key answers be “provided to evaluator at the earliest after the commencement of the examination, preferably along with the handing over of answer sheets.”
