The appointments of 42 employees who were promoted to the post of Commercial Tax Inspector in the Chhattisgarh GST Department through the limited recruitment examinations held in 2021 and 2022 have been cancelled. An inquiry found irregularities including similarities in answers, an increase in marks after re-evaluation and the absence of examination records.
The State Tax Commissioner, Pushpendra Kumar Meena, issued the order cancelling the selection after several irregularities related to the examination process were found. All 42 employees will now be sent back to their original clerical posts.
During the examination of answer sheets of employees selected through the limited recruitment examination conducted by the Chhattisgarh GST Department, several issues were identified. According to the inquiry committee, identical answers were found in the answer sheets of some selected candidates. Several answers also substantially matched the model answers. Similarities were also found in answers to questions related to GST sections and rules.
The inquiry also found that answers to some mathematics questions had been written directly without any rough work. In essays based on the biography of Dr. Khubchand Baghel, similar answers were also found in the answer sheets of some candidates.
During the inquiry, the attendance register of the examination centre was not found to be available. As a result, the original record required to verify which candidates had appeared for the examination was not available.
In addition, a consolidated marks sheet for the examination had not been prepared. Therefore, complete information about the marks obtained by each candidate and the basis on which the merit list was prepared was not available.
The answer sheets also did not have a coding system to conceal the identity of candidates during evaluation. The inquiry committee also referred to the re-evaluation of some answer sheets. According to the report, the marks of some selected candidates increased after re-evaluation, following which they were included in the selection list. Officials associated with the selection committee were also involved in this process.
The inquiry also found that the posts had not been determined according to the category-wise reservation roster before the examination. According to the department, this affected the arrangement for providing equal opportunity to eligible employees.
The complete records of answer sheets used in 2021 and 2022 were also not made available to the inquiry committee. Examination material records showed a difference between the number of answer sheets purchased, used and remaining.
Based on the inquiry report, State Tax Commissioner Pushpendra Kumar Meena cancelled the limited recruitment examination and the selection made on its basis. An order was also issued to return the 42 employees appointed as Commercial Tax Inspectors to their original clerical posts.
According to the order, the employees will return to the same original post and place of posting from which they had been appointed to the post of Commercial Tax Inspector.
The selection committee for the limited recruitment examination included then Additional Commissioner Kalpana Tiwari, then Joint Commissioner and current Additional Commissioner T.R. Dhurve, and Assistant Commissioner Roshan Singh. At the time of the recruitment, Sameer Vishnoi was the department's Commissioner.
