New Delhi: "If even one candidate has been wronged, we will conduct the exam again for them," the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) Chairman, S Gopalakrishnan, told NDTV at the backdrop of mounting protests over alleged discrepancies and technical issues in the recently conducted SSC Selection Post Phase 13 examination. The Chairman on Monday dismissed the possibility of cancelling the exam. However, he indicated that a rescheduled test may be held for candidates who did not get a "fair chance" during the original test window due to disruptions.
While the Chairman admitted to the mismanagement citing computer system failures, mouse malfunctions and the allocation of distant exam centres to candidates, he also mentioned that the body has written to Eduquity Career Technologies-which was awarded the tender to conduct the exams- asking them to address the reported lapses for the exams held from July 24 to August 1. "Penalties are also likely for failures such as system crashes and hardware malfunctions", added the Chairman.
Despite growing calls from candidates to scrap the examination and change the vendor, Gopalakrishnan ruled out both. "On the basis of one test, I cannot remove them. I would need to float a fresh tender which could take until December. How will I conduct exams in the meantime?" he asked.
Some of the most serious disruptions occurred at two centres-Pawan Ganga in Delhi and Educasa in Uttar Pradesh-where tests were entirely cancelled, affecting about 2,500 students. Originally scheduled to end on August 1, the examination had to be extended to August 2 in three shifts to compensate for disruptions reported at 20 centres. But attendance was barely 60 per cent, with only 8,048 of the scheduled 16,600 candidates turning up.
Speaking to NDTV, the Chairman acknowledged "teething issues" with the new vendor. He assured that "corrections" would be made in the coming months. "We are analysing logs, CCTV footage, and electronic data to ensure accountability. We have seen an improvement in the company's functioning over the past one week. There were issues on the first few days, and then they resolved them," Gopalakrishnan added.
Regarding student concerns over the use of Artificial Intelligence for questionnaire preparation, the SSC clarified that only a basic AI tool is used to avoid repetition, with each question tagged with metadata.
The SSC, in collaboration with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), monitors the exam process through a network system installed on each desktop to ensure the integrity of its examinations using logs, CCTV footage, and electronic data analysis. "We are hopeful the upcoming exams scheduled between August 6 and 8, involving around 3.5 lakh candidates, will be smooth," said Gopalakrishnan.
The Chairman maintained that while there were issues with the exam, it was not "totally unfair" to merit cancellation and promised that all existing issues would be fully addressed within a month.
The exam, conducted from July 24 to August 1 across 194 centres in 142 cities, was marred by abrupt cancellations, software failures, biometric mismatches, and erroneous centre allotments. Around 5 lakh candidates had registered for the recruitment test.
The last-minute changes and repeated technical failures sparked protests across Delhi last week, with hundreds of aspirants taking to the streets and social media platforms to express outrage. The backlash has led SSC to re-examine its exam protocols.
The SSC is a statutory authority responsible for conducting recruitment examinations for positions across central ministries, departments, and other government bodies.
