The Supreme Court has turned its gaze toward the Central government after a public interest plea accused the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) of mishandling its recent recruitment examinations.
A Bench led by Justices PS Narasimha and Atul S Chandurkar has issued notices to both the Centre and the SSC following a petition filed by Nikhil Kumar, an SSC aspirant who claims the examinations have been riddled with irregularities ever since Eduquity Career Technologies replaced Tata Consultancy Services as the Commission’s technical partner.
According to the plea, the shift triggered widespread disruptions in crucial recruitment tests, including the SSC Selection Post/Phase XIII and the Stenographer Examination 2025. Complaints ranged from incorrect admit card details to candidates being forced to travel hundreds of kilometres, frozen computer screens, answer options that appeared blurred, abrupt technical crashes, and repeated biometric failures. Some centres, the petition alleges, even lacked basic backup measures, with power outages halting exams altogether.
The petitioner contends that the SSC has already admitted that nearly 59,500 candidates were affected by these lapses but chose to respond with little more than postponements and reschedules—while accountability remained unaddressed.
The plea demands a court-appointed independent committee to oversee upcoming examinations, including the high-stakes Combined Graduate Level (CGL) 2025, along with a call for fresh standard operating procedures, cancellation and re-conduct of disputed exams, an inquiry into Eduquity’s contract, and compensation for affected aspirants.
Adding weight to the claims, the petition revives an old question: why has the report of the Justice GS Singhvi Committee—set up by the Supreme Court in 2018 to ensure fairness in SSC exams—never been made public? The Committee was formed after irregularities marred the 2017 CGL and CHSL examinations.
The Court will now await the government’s response, as lakhs of aspirants across the country look to see whether the credibility of one of India’s largest recruitment bodies can be restored.
