Delhi court orders FIR for repeated caste-based Qs in 2018 & 2019 DSSB exam

new delhi: A Delhi court has directed the concerned authority to register an FIR under the provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, in a case related to a caste-based question being allegedly asked in the primary teachers' recruitment exam by the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board

(DSSSB).

Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Bedi said prima facie the alleged words in questions papers of 2018 and 2019 disclosed commission of various cognizable offences by the DSSSB. The court directed the officer empowered under the Act to conduct an investigation in the case and file a monthly report before the court.

"I observe that the question with caste abusive words was set up in paper by paper setter not only once i.e. on October 13, 2018, but again the very next year i.e. in paper dated August 18, 2019.

"Prima facie the alleged words in questions papers of 2018 & 2019 as pointed out by complainant disclose commission of various cognizable offences committed by the respondent/DSSSB and an investigation is required into these," the judge said in his order passed on February

17.

The court's directions came while allowing an application filed by advocate Satya Prakash Gautam, seeking action against the DSSSB chairman and the erring officials of the examination committee under the Act.

The judge said that his attention has been drawn to the detailed report by the investigating officer filed in September 2019 and the attempts of the Board in concealing information as to the question paper setters despite repeated orders of the court.

"The response of DSSSB as filed during hearing was that DSSSB did not have an in-house facility for paper setting or vetting; the same being a highly secretive process, where contents of paper are not shared with anyone," the court said in its order.

It had earlier pulled up the police for not making any efforts to identify the two paper setters, who had allegedly put a caste-based question in the exam, and said it was dismayed by their "callous approach" in the matter.

Following this, DSSSB Chairman Santosh Vaidya had appeared before the court through video conferencing and submitted the details of the paper setters in two sealed envelopes.

The police had told the court in its status report that the person who had allegedly put a caste-based question in the exam has been removed from the board's paper setters panel. They, however, had said the board did not disclose the name or identity of the paper setter who had included the caste-based question.

The board had issued a notice after media reports of the alleged casteist question came out in 2018, saying the question having casteist undertones appeared due to an "inadvertent error".