New Delhi, August 4: Amid mounting protests over alleged mismanagement in the Selection Post Phase 13 exam, Staff Selection Commission (SSC) Chairman S Gopalakrishnan on Monday clarified that the exam will not be cancelled. However, he assured that candidates who were denied a “fair chance” due to technical or administrative lapses may be allowed to reappear in a special retest.
Speaking to ANI, the Chairman acknowledged the disruptions and confirmed that SSC has written to its exam vendor, Eduquity Career Technologies, directing the firm to address all the issues reported during the July 24–August 1 test window.
“We are analysing the data. If we find even one candidate who has been wronged, we will conduct the exam again for them,” Gopalakrishnan said.
The Phase 13 recruitment exam, conducted at 194 centres in 142 cities, saw participation from nearly 5 lakh candidates but was plagued by software crashes, biometric verification failures, abrupt cancellations, and incorrect centre allotments.
These issues sparked widespread protests in Delhi last week, with thousands of aspirants taking to the streets and voicing their anger on social media.
To address the grievances, SSC organised a retest on August 2 in three shifts. Two centres—one in Delhi (Pawan Ganga) and one in Uttar Pradesh (Educasa)—suffered complete cancellations, affecting about 2,500 candidates. Of the 16,600 candidates scheduled for the retest, only 8,048 appeared, resulting in a 60% turnout.
The Chairman added that if further discrepancies are identified, SSC will hold another round of re-examinations for affected candidates.
While acknowledging “teething problems” with Eduquity, Gopalakrishnan confirmed that penalties will be imposed for issues such as system hangs and mouse malfunctions. However, he rejected calls to terminate the vendor’s contract immediately.
“If I remove them based on one test, how will I conduct upcoming exams? Floating a new tender would take until December,” he explained, while noting improvements in Eduquity’s performance over the past week.
The SSC also addressed concerns regarding the alleged use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in question selection. The Commission clarified that AI is only used in a limited capacity to avoid duplication, with every question tagged with metadata.
The SSC said it is working with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) to monitor network systems, analyse electronic logs, and review CCTV footage to ensure transparency in the recruitment process.
