HPSC should make public the number of candidates selected for the HCS : Randeep

Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala on Tuesday said that a shroud of secrecy surrounded the selections made for the 2023 Haryana Civil Services examination as the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) did not make public the number of selected candidates.

The former minister in a statement said the HPSC on June 14 only declared the marks of the 275 candidates who were interviewed for the 2023 Haryana Civil Services (HCS) and Allied Services examinations.

Surjewala said that HPSC had conducted the 2023 HCS exam for filling 121 posts for which 1,706 candidates cleared the mains exam and 275 individuals were called for the interviews. “The commission on June 14 released the marks of the 275 candidates. But till now the commission has not made public the number of selected candidates. The commission has also not revealed the addresses of the selected candidates. If these details are made public, then we will come to know as to how many Haryana residents and outsiders have been selected by the HPSC for the state civil services,’’ the Congress leader alleged.

Surjewala, who is a Rajya Sabha MP, also raised doubts over the selection of certain candidates who were seated in a sequence during the mains examination. “ A similar anomaly was detected during the NEET exam where eight toppers were seated in succession. The HPSC needs to answer these questions,” the former minister said.

Surjewala said the HPSC also needs to clarify as to why nine vacancies (out of 31) for the Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates were left vacant. Similarly, during the 2022 HCS recruitments, 14 vacancies (out of 20) reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates were also left unfilled.

“Another issue is pertaining to the number of backward class (A) and (B) candidates called for the interviews. Why only 19 BC (A) category candidates were called for the interviews for filling 19 vacancies reserved for the BC (A)? Similarly, only seven candidates were called interview for the seven posts reserved for BC (B) category. The number of candidates called for interview should be three times the number of vacancies.” Surjewala asked in a statement.

Merit wise result will uploaded on Tuesday evening

Responding to the allegations levelled by Surjewala, HPSC Secretary, Mukesh Ahuja said that merit wise result will be uploaded on the website Tuesday evening. “112 candidates have made it to the merit list against 121 posts. One candidate who made it to the merit list did not opt for the service,’’ the secretary said. Ahuja said as per the 2008 recruitment rules the candidates should get minimum of 45% marks in four papers and 33% in Hindi and English for getting into the consideration zone for the interview. He said that as far doubts raised regarding the seating plan are concerned, the roll numbers are assigned subject wise.