New Delhi: The Ahmedabad-based EduTest Solutions Private Limited, which was blacklisted by the Uttar Pradesh government last week in a paper leak case, is conducting the exam for the posts of Section Officer (SO) and Assistant Section Officer (ASO) in the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi next week.
The Wire Hindi had previously reported that EduTest’s founder Sureshchandra Arya is the president of a Hindu organisation and PM Modi often attends his programmes. The company’s managing director Vineet Arya has been jailed, but the company continues to get exam contracts from the BJP governments. Here is the second instalment of The Wire Hindi‘s special investigation delving into the connection between this company and the BJP.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Suresh Chandra Arya, founder of Edutest and president of the Universal Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, during an event of Arya Samaj. Photo: Screengrab via YouTube/Narendra Modi.
Company’s controversial past
According to the official notification issued by CSIR, which comes under the ministry of science and technology, the second phase of examinations for SO and ASO will be held on July 7. Only those candidates will appear in this phase who have cleared the first phase examination.
However, CSIR has completely ignored the fact that the exam is already riddled with many controversies.
First, this examination will be conducted by the same Ahmedabad-based company which has been blacklisted by the Uttar Pradesh government. It has even been speculated that the managing director of the company, Vineet Arya, has fled abroad to avoid arrest by UP Police.
Second, the police of two states are investigating rigging in the first phase of the examination conducted by this company. The responsibility of this phase of the examination was also handed to EduTest.
Third, the matter is in the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) after the candidates alleged large-scale rigging in the first phase examination.
Fourth, many candidates are currently in jail on charges of cheating during the first phase examination, but their names are on the list of candidates who passed this stage.
Despite such controversies, EduTest is going to conduct the second stage of this important CSIR examination, which is an institute headed by Prime Minister Modi himself.
Questions raised on the first stage examination
On October 19 last year, CSIR gave EduTest a contract of Rs 8,00,04,000 to conduct the recruitment examination for the posts of SO and ASO. Interestingly, the very next day, that is, on October 20, the Controller of Examinations of Bihar School Examination Board (Patna) wrote a letter to EduTest that the Board is blacklisting their agency due to “grossly negligent attitude” and “unprofessional conduct”. The Wire Hindi has accessed an exclusive copy of this letter.
The examination for these posts was conducted online at different centres in the country between February 5 and 20. During the examination, the candidates alleged large-scale rigging. On February 8, the police raided a centre in Uttarakhand. Giving information about the incident, SSP Rural of Dehradun Ajay Singh said, “The cheating mafia and the examination centre operators were helping the candidates cheat at the IT Park centre in Rajpur area and the examination centre in Doiwala. The examination system was hacked by taking remote access to the server room.”
Dehradun Police X post
According to the FIR lodged at Rajpur police station, Ankit Dhiman, who was caught from the centre, had admitted that he had helped a candidate Shiven Dabas (D/o Bhupendra Singh, Roll number- 126241609, Seat number- 66) solve the question paper on February 7.
Shiven Dabas mentioned in FIR
Another accused Sandeep Kumar told the police that he was carrying out this fraud in connivance with Ankit. On the information given by Sandeep, the police had seized all the electronic devices of the accused.
Ankit and Sandeep Kumar’s names in the FIR.
Interestingly, the name of Shiven Dabas, whom Ankit Dhiman had mentioned in his statement, appeared in the result released by CSIR on June 3.
Shiven Dabas’s name in the result of first phase of examination
Cases of irregularities were also reported at Doon Valley College of Professional Education, the examination centre located in Doiwala, Dehradun. According to media reports, a room was duly prepared for cheating at the examination centre.
Doiwala CO Abhinay Chaudhary told the media, “The police have detained five people. Some are said to be from Haryana and others from Rajasthan. Two masterminds are absconding.”
Vikram Singh, a candidate who appeared in the examination on February 14 at the Doiwala centre, said in a conversation with The Wire Hindi, “I am from Dehradun. The examination centre was in a very shoddy area. I don’t understand why CSIR needed to conduct the paper there. It was a completely third-grade centre.”
Vikram expressed doubts over the security arrangements of the examination centre and said, “CSIR claims that a jammer was installed at the examination centre, but it was clear from the way people were using electronic devices that there was no jammer.”
Vikram also asked why the candidates from Haryana and Rajasthan were assigned such distant exam centres in Uttarakhand. Was this done in order to facilitate cheating?
Two candidates in jail passed the first stage of the exam
Another FIR in this case was registered on February 20 at the Behror police station in Kotputli-Behror district of Rajasthan. The FIR states that the accused Ravi Yadav admitted that he was helping in cheating in the SO and ASO recruitment exam. He used the screen-sharing app ‘Amy Admin’ for cheating.
Names of Ravi Yadav and Yogesh Sharma in the FIR registered on February 21 at Behror police station.
Ravi Yadav and his associate Yogesh Sharma have been made accused in the FIR. Both of them are accused of helping two candidates, Sandeep Kumar (R/o Charkhi Dadri, Haryana) and Mahesh Kumar (R/o Khairthal Tijara, Rajasthan), to cheat. Both the candidates are also in judicial custody along with Ravi and Yogesh.
Names of accused candidates in the result of the first phase of the examination.
On March 26, the court rejected their bail plea. Interestingly, the names of Sandeep Kumar and Mahesh Kumar are on the list of candidates who cleared the first stage.
Matter reaches CAT
In April, candidate Saurabh Kumar (name changed) took this matter against CSIR to the Central Administrative Trib
unal (CAT). The petitioner said that during this examination, cases of cheating have come to light at many centres across the country. There is collusion between the employees of the examination centres and the institution conducting the examination in this rigging, he alleged. If the examination is not canceled, it will be a violation of Article 14 (right to equality) of the constitution, he wrote.
Speaking to The Wire, Shubham Mishra, who has cleared the first stage, said, “The agency which has been entrusted with the task of conducting the examination has very serious allegations against it. It has been banned by several governments. To maintain the fairness of the examination, CSIR should cancel the contract of Edutest and also impose a fine. This agency should not be given the responsibility of any examination. It cannot be trusted at all.”
CSIR put forth its stand in detail in a counter affidavit before CAT on May 14. On the question of selecting EduTest, it said that the government had issued a tender for this examination. EduTest Solutions Pvt Ltd, which had placed the lowest bid, was awarded the work in October 2023 as per the rules.
CSIR has said in its affidavit, “More than 4.75 lakh candidates had applied for the post of SO, ASO. The Stage-I examination was scheduled with 138 examination venues in 19 major cities across India. EduTest staff members were deployed at each examination centre for technical support, inspection, monitoring and assistance, etc. Apart from this, CSIR headquarters had appointed two of its senior officers as supervisors at these examination venues. Jammers were also installed at each examination venue by the government. The examination was conducted under CCTV surveillance. Biometric data along with photographs of all candidates was captured digitally at the examination centre.”
But despite FIRs in two different states, CSIR is not willing to accept that any irregularities had taken place during the examination. “The applicants are trying to disrupt the entire recruitment process on the basis of two FIRs lodged in Dehradun and Rajasthan without any evidence,” says CSIR.
Regarding the Rajasthan incident, CSIR has said, “After the last date of examination (20.02.2024), an incident of cheating was reported in Kotputli-Behror, Rajasthan. Rajasthan Police had lodged an FIR on 21.02.2024 and arrested some people for allegedly helping candidates cheat using a screen sharing app at Chandigarh/Delhi examination centres.”
That is, despite accepting the FIRs and the arrests made in the cases, CSIR does not want to accept that there has been rigging in the examination. On the contrary, it claims that the aggrieved candidates and petitioners are “disrupting the recruitment process”.
Meanwhile, candidates are demanding the cancellation of the entire process and re-examination. But CSIR said, “This cannot be done on the basis of vague allegations. In the present case, the allegations are completely vague…”
On CSIR’s response that it needs clear evidence, Shubham Mishra said, “If the candidates do the work of collecting evidence, what will the conducting body do? CSIR only wants to shirk its responsibility.”
CSIR has also said that “efforts will be made to separate the tainted candidates from the clean ones”, but there are at least three candidates (Shiven Dabas, Sandeep Kumar and Mahesh Kumar) who have been accused of cheating in the first stage, yet they passed the examination in this stage. Two of them are in jail.
Commenting on this, Shubham Mishra said, “CSIR had assured us that all the tainted candidates will be audited and expelled, but nothing has been done.”
“Their (Sandeep and Mahesh’s) bail plea has been rejected twice,” he added. “At least their result could have been held.”
The Wire Hindi has mailed a detailed questionnaire to CSIR and EduTest. Our reporter also visited the CSIR office and tried to contact the officials. But no reply has been received yet.
This article has been translated from Hindi by Naushin Rehman. Read the Hindi article here.
