Thousands of candidates appeared for the exam who even staged a dharna in front of the Commission’s office
Following protests over anomalies in question papers of the optional subjects, the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) has on December 15 cancelled the combined competitive preliminary exams.
The commission will re-conduct the exam, however, there is no mention of the new date on the official website.The APPSC exam was held last month which ran into controversy after candidates accused the commission of providing erroneous question papers and setting questions from a Pakistan-based website.
Thousands of candidates appeared for the exam who even staged a dharna in front of the Commission’s office, demanding re-conduct of the exam.
Their other demands included disciplinary action against the Controller of Examinations, setting up of an enquiry committee headed by a retired High Court judge or a sitting Session judge.
Meanwhile, the Peoples’ Party of Arunachal (PPA) on Monday in a memorandum to the Commission’s chairman, asked him to immediately adopt the Union Public Service Commission pattern of conducting the civil services exam in the state.
The party suggested the APPSC to do away with the outdated system of conducting the preliminary exam where the candidates appear with different optional subjects.
“Instead, the UPSC pattern of a civil services aptitude test and a general studies paper mandatory for all the candidates irrespective of their different academic backgrounds should be introduced from the next exam,” the party said.
“This change is most essential to give a fresh image to the APPSC,” the PPA observed. The party also suggested immediate action against the agencies that were entrusted with the task of preparing the question papers.
“Appropriate action should also be initiated against all those who were responsible in entrusting the task to such agencies that has been found to be totally ‘incompetent and non-professionals,” the party added.


