Amid protests by the job aspirants against engaging a black-listed company for conducting recruitment in the Union Territory, Jammu and Kashmir Service Selection Board (JKSSB) on late Tuesday evening deferred the forthcoming examinations for various posts.
"The Computer Based Examinations for various posts scheduled w.e.f. 16.03.2023 to 05.04.2023 are deferred till further intimation", the official Twitter handle of the JKSSB tweeted late Tuesday evening.
The JKSSB has not given any reasons to defer the examinations, it is widely believed that the decision has been taken due to ongoing protests of the job aspirants against hiring a black-listed firm for conducting examinations.
The Computer Based Examinations for various posts scheduled w.e.f. 16.03.2023 to 05.04.2023 are deferred till further intimation.
— JKSSB Official (@jkssbofficial) March 14, 2023
As the decision to engage a black-listed firm to conduct examinations has snowballed into a big political issue as all opposition parties already joined with the agitating youth, authorities of the JKSSB decided to defer the examinations to pacify the agitating youth.
The agitating job aspirants are demanding a rollback of the exam calendar issued by JKSSB to be conducted by the black-listed company. They are also demanding a technical investigation into all exams conducted by the black-listed company.
They are further demanding that public and government recruitment should be conducted by the government body and the role of private players should be ended.
Agitating youth also demanded a strict law against paper leaks in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Youth Against Corruption (YAC), which is spearheading the ongoing agitation against hiring a black-listed company claimed that the company was black-listed and was also fined for its malpractices and is recently involved in many states and Ladakh Union Territory.
Despite protests, JKSSB had announced the calendar for examinations
Notwithstanding protests by the job aspirants, the JKSSB announced to conduct Computer Based Written Test (CBT) examinations for various posts with effect from 16th March to 5th April 2023 at various examination centers in Jammu and Kashmir.
It was announced that the examinations have been scheduled to be conducted in multiple batches at different locations/venues set up in various districts of the UT, for which adequate security arrangements have been put in place at each examination centre.
Earlier JKSSB chairman defended the decision to hire "black-listed" company
On March 10 the JKSSB defended its decision to engage this company. Seeking to ally apprehensions on the hiring of APTECH Limited, Rajesh Sharma, chairman of JKSSB said the agency is not blacklisted as of date, though it was blacklisted in Uttar Pradesh in May 2019 for three years that expired in May 2022.
"I would like to clarify that blacklisting is a restrictive term valid for a period. This agency is not permanently blacklisted for conducting exams", he said and pointed out that the present protests seem to be motivated to derail the functioning of the Board.
