Students Protest In Delhi Against SC Decision On Cancellation Of SSC CGL & SSC CHSL Exam 2017

As per the latest updates on the leaked exam question papers of SSC CGL & SSC CHSL exams held in 2017, on 29th October, 2018, the Supreme Court showed its willingness to cancel the examination. Though it has not been followed by an order till now but they have sought the Central Government’s take on this matter. Amid all the controversies surrounding Staff Selection Committee and their mismanagement in conducting fair exams, thousands of honest and hard-working students are to suffer. Following this, nearly 100 students have gathered outside the SSC CGO office situated in Lodhi Road, New Delhi to peacefully protest against this decision.

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The Examination Process And Controversy

The controversy surrounding the SSC paper leaks began in August 2017. The Staff Selection Commission Combined Graduate Level Examination (SSC CGL) is conducted in four tiers. Tier 1 was conducted in August 2017. Following this, some candidates filed a case against SSC for not introducing normalization (regarding difficulty levels in exam) in tier 1. This led to a delay in conducting Tier 2 as per original schedule. Tier 2 was conducted in February 2018, which was 7 months after Tier 1. It was conducted from 17th Feb to 22nd February.

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“On 21st February 2018, the Maths paper that was conducted in the morning session was delayed by 2 hours, which the management claimed was a technical difficulty. However, screenshots of this same exam surfaced on SSC coaching websites and Facebook pages. It became apparent that malpractices had occurred,” said an SSC CGL aspirant. Later, the mathematics exam was scrapped and reconducted on March 9th for those who appeared on Feb 21st. This led to a massive protest in March and protesters filed a case in Supreme Court demanding CBI investigation on the issue.

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While this was happening, the exam process continued, and tier 2 results were subsequently declared on June 6th. Tier 3 was conducted in July 2018 without any issues. On August 31st, the Supreme Court placed a stay order on the results of CGL, claiming that the exam was ‘tainted’.
Waiting for around a year and a half to be declared qualified after multiple stages, the Supreme Court opinions present a bleak future to all these candidates. In fact, many candidates have given their last attempt and they find no other option left to find a secured job after giving so many years studying for this exam.

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Supreme Court has also shown its favour in the cancellation of the Tier-2 SSC CSHL exams held in 2017. Around 53,000 students would suffer from this stand taken by the court.
In an attempt to raise their voice against such malpractices and mishandling, the students are organizing a peaceful protest outside CGO Office in New Delhi.  They have also started a Twitter campaign with hashtag #savecgl2017. “A group of 25000-30,000 students are facing a crisis in their lives right now. It’s the SSC CGL examination 2017 which we took and now we all were waiting for its final results. But instead, the Supreme Court found that few people cheated in the examination and it’s difficult to identify the culprits (but possible, it will take time as said by CBI). So, the apex court has decided to cancel the whole procedure instead of identifying and punishing the culprits,” shared Rahul Vashist, one of the protesters.
The malpractices involved in this exam were even noticed in 2013. This makes it apparent that cancellation does not fix the issue at hand but rather allows the culprits to get away with their ways.
“We strongly believe that if people understand our plight, the Supreme Court may change their stance on the issue and give us a chance to secure our jobs. Most of the candidates are depressed and worried over this issue. This process has been going on for over 500 days. The lives of 41,000 people are at stake here,” added Naga Ram Sai.