SSC Paper Leak: Centre Orders CBI Inquiry into Alleged Scam

This comes a day after the SSC chairman had said he will request the department to re-conduct the examination.

Students protest against an alleged scam in the SSC examination.

(Photo: The Quint)

The Centre on Monday, 5 March, ordered a CBI inquiry into the alleged SSC paper leak scam, requesting aspirants to disband their protests.

Speaking on the issue, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said:

We have accepted demands of protesting candidates and have given orders for CBI inquiry, protest should now stop.

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court had agreed to hear a plea seeking investigation into the alleged scam on 12 March.

These developments come a day after the Staff Selection Commission chairman had on Sunday, 4 March, said he will request the department to re-conduct the SSC examination and also request the CBI to launch a probe into the matter. The standoff started after a week-long demonstration by hundreds of job aspirants, who picketed outside the SSC office at Lodhi Road in New Delhi.

SSC chairman Ashim Khurana met a delegation of protesters on Sunday, reportedly after the intervention of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who ordered the commission to act on the demands of the protesters.

Earlier in the week, several students had camped out on Lodhi road, sleeping on the pavements to mark their protest.

Students camp out in Lodhi road. (Photo: Twitter/@AnupamConnects)

The examinations were held for the Complete Graduation Level (CGL) aspirants between 17 and 2 February, but on 21 February, the examination was delayed with the concerned authorities stating that the ‘inconvenience’ was due to ‘incomplete downloading of data’, reported Scroll.in.

Following this, the SSC, on its website, cancelled 21 February’s examination, rescheduling it to 9 March.

Students protests against an alleged scam in the SSC examination(Photo: The Quint)

However, students have alleged mass leaking of the question paper, after screenshots of the paper were circulated on social media, demanding that a CBI inquiry be conducted into the incident.

Screenshot of the question paper leak.

The SSC conducts examinations to recruit non-gazetted staff for central ministries and other institutions.

Student groups such as the AISA and the NSUI have come out in support of the protestors, backing their cause for a CBI probe into the incident.

The NSUI, in a statement, said:

The students have been protesting at the CGO complex for the past week, but neither the government nor its representatives have bothered to reach out to them and hear out their concerns. The students have pointed out several discrepancies in the entire SSC CGL 2017 examination.

Students protests against an alleged scam in the SSC examination.(Photo: The Quint)

Meanwhile, Scroll.in reported that the SSC chairman claimed that the protests and the theories of the alleged leak were being instigated by two coaching centres that had “vested interests.”

The protesting students were reportedly given till Thursday evening to submit evidence backing their claims of a leak before a panel, after which it was to be decided if a CBI probe was needed or not.

Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda met the prortesting Staff Selection Commission aspirants, and said, “Never saw such strike where students aren't even allowed a carpet or toilet,” reported ANI.

Several politicians, including Congressmen spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and MP Shashi Tharoor also have questioned the government’s inaction on the issue, likening it to Madhya Pradesh’s Vyapam Scam.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has reportedly written a letter to MoS Jitendra Singh, in reference to the alleged leak.