The scheduled Odisha Judicial Service (OJS) Examination 2019 from November 3 doesn’t comply with the Covid-19 Unlock 5.0 guidelines and, thus, the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) should take remedial measures for safety of aspirants.
Supreme Court lawyer Avinash Mohapatra has stated this in a statement.“As per the Unlock 5.0 guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, there can be academic congregations of 200 persons and a maximum of 50% of capacity of a hall capacity can be used. As per the OPSC notification 321 seats have been allotted at an examination centre at CDA, Cuttack and 216 seats at a centre at IRC Village, Bhubaneswar for the OJS main written test, to be held from November 3, 2020,” pointed out Mohapatra.
He said the OPSC has not taken any corrective measure in this regard. Further, there is absolutely no clarity about "maintaining safe distance of six feet.“It would be worthwhile to postpone the OJSE-2019 for the time being since there are reasons to believe that we may have the vaccine in the first quarter of 2021.
Holding the examination at this juncture is likely to cause undue hardship to the aspirants and their families, especially when Khordha and Cuttack are witnessing a spike in the number of Covid cases,” opined Mohapatra.He apprehended that if the OPSC fails to follow guidelines, it would lead to misgovernance and misuse by vested interests.
“The OJS main examinations should be conducted in a transparent manner. Since the present arrangement potentially impedes the selection mechanism, the OPSC cannot turn a blind eye on the aspirants who have contracted Covid and are undergoing treatment for the same.
As such, it becomes imperative for OPSC to examine as to whether the prescribed guidelines issued by the Centre have been adhered to, and if not, then, to consider the remedial measures, including but not limited to postponing the main written examination of the OJS,” noted Mohapatra.