Protest against UPPCS paper leak continues, in Allahabad on Friday. (Source: PTI )

Five days after Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) cancelled the first paper of Provincial Civil Services (Prelims)-2015 following it being leaked, some aspirants Friday moved the Allahabad High Court demanding that the other paper should also be cancelled as it, too, had been leaked.
They, however, withdrew the petition on technical grounds, claiming they will file a fresh petition on Monday.
Following it being leaked on WhatsApp, a mobile messaging service, minutes before the PCS exam on March 30, UPPSC had cancelled the General Studies-I (GS-I) paper ordering re-examination for same on May 10. Now, aspirants want the second paper of (GS-II) cancelled as they claim they are in possession of a ‘hard copy’ of the question paper booklet, whose seal was found to be missing, indicating that the second paper may have been leaked too.
The UPPSC, however, said there was no irregularity and they are not discussing the issue of GS-II’s cancellation. The Commission had initially maintained a similar stand in the case of GS-I too.
A photograph of the question paper booklet, allegedly found without seal, is circulating on WhatsApp and social media.
Avanish Pandey, media in-charge and member of the Pratiyogi Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti, Friday filed a petition in HC, through his counsel Santosh Kumar Srivastava, raising questions on the validity of the second paper, besides demanding a CBI inquiry into the matter.
However, Srivastava said that the petition was withdrawn “with liberty to file a fresh petition” after a division bench of Justices Dilip Gupta and Vinod Kumar Misra pointed out that the credentials of the petitioners were not mentioned properly. “We will file a fresh petition and, in that plea, we will also adduce the question paper booklet that has allegedly been found without seal,” said Srivastava.
Incidentally, Pandey is also pursuing a PIL demanding CBI inquiry into the results declared during the tenure of the UPPSC chairman Anil Yadav.
Pandey claimed that the question paper booklet, without the seal, was received by one of the aspirants, who was from Varanasi. “We have the hard copy, but have not disclosed the identity of the aspirant. The seal is broken by the aspirant once the bell for the examination to begin is sounded. We have valid reasons to suspect that not all was clean about GS-II also,” he said.
While UPPSC’s counsel G K Singh could not be contacted despite repeated efforts, Commission secretary, Rizwan-ur-Rehman, however, said: “We are not going through any re-think on GS-II. Whatever is being said is in the realm of rumours. It is being done to carry out a sustained campaign against the Commission and its officials”.
Rehman further explained that the main seal is never broken. “But the pages inside the sealed cover are stuck together with glue. It may be possible that the glue in continued…

Indian Express | April 4, 2015

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