Madhya Pradesh government will provide appointment to the selected candidates of Patwari recruitment examination. The inquiry commission has given a clean chit to the examination. The General Administration Department on Thursday has given orders to make appointments only on the basis of the declared results of Patwari Recruitment Examination.
According to the order, the results of Group-2 and Sub Group-4 will also be declared soon.
The result of the Patwari recruitment exam came on 30 June 2023. When allegations of rigging were raised, the then Shivraj government put a stay on the appointment and put the result on hold until the investigation.
On the evening of July 13, 2023, Shivraj Singh Chauhan had written on X, 'Doubt is being expressed on the result of one center in this examination. Therefore, I am stopping the appointments made on the basis of this examination. The results of the center will be re-examined. After this further action will be taken.
A commission for investigation was constituted on 19 July 2023. The investigation lasted 8 months. Justice Rajendra Verma submitted the investigation report to the government.
In November 2022, the Staff Selection Commission had issued a notification for 9200 posts of Grade-3 including Patwari. From March 15 to April 26, examinations were held at 78 examination centres, 127963 candidates had applied for this examination and 978270 candidates appeared in the examination.
The result was declared on June 30, 2023. Merit list of 8617 selected candidates released. The results of the remaining posts were withheld, but during this time, questions started being raised on the examination after the names of 7 out of 10 toppers came out from the same center NRI College in Gwalior.
Lakhs of students took to the streets in the cities of the state alleging exam rigging. Sensing the displeasure of the youth just before the assembly elections, the then Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan announced to conduct the examination on the evening of 13 July 2023.
On July 19, 2023, a one-member inquiry commission was constituted under the chairmanship of Justice Rajendra Verma. The commission was given time till August 31 for the investigation, but after this the tenure of the investigation commission was extended first to October 31 and then to December 15. After this, the tenure of the new government was extended till 31 January.
Students from Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Rewa and other divisions came to the office of the Inquiry Commission and recorded their statements. The students presented many facts indicating suspicion of rigging in the examination, but could not present any evidence in their favor. Justice Verma himself went to different examination centres.
Justice Verma also examined some other examination centers including NRI College of Gwalior. In this, the entire process here was verified with the information sought from Vyapam. It has been told that if someone takes control of the system remotely with the help of any special software, there is only a possibility of fraud. There is no visible flaw in the rest of the security protocols, but no concrete evidence has been available regarding remote access to the system.
After the Patwari recruitment process was stopped, the first protest by the selected Patwari candidates was on July 17.
The selected Patwaris gathered in Neelam Park, Bhopal were chased away by the police on 3 September 2023.
On one hand, the selected candidates of Patwari recruitment were protesting against the withholding of the results, while on the other hand, the candidates who were not selected and the students took to the streets alleging irregularities in the examination.
