CHENNAI: More than two weeks after the State government ordered an inquiry into complaints surrounding the recruitment examination for assistant professors in government arts and science colleges, the authorities are learnt to have decided that the report was not required as the probe has not found any malpractice in the exam conducted by the Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB).
The TRB had conducted the examination in December last year to fill 2,708 assistant professor vacancies across 188 government arts and science colleges in Tamil Nadu. The recruitment covered 48 subject categories. Of these, the results of five subjects were announced before the Assembly elections, while the remaining 43 were released on June 25.
The controversy erupted after the board published the results for 43 subjects on June 25, following which several candidates alleged discrepancies in the evaluation process, particularly in the descriptive Part B section of the examination.
Many candidates highlighted several clerical errors in the published results, including incorrect dates of birth, publication of results using only examination registration numbers instead of candidates' names, and mistakes in reservation category details.
Following the complaints, senior officials held discussions with the TRB, and Higher Education Minister P Viswanathan later announced that the board would conduct an inquiry into the issues and submit a report to the government.
However, the TRB later issued a press statement claiming that no irregularities had occurred in the examination.
Sources familiar with the matter said while certain procedural issues in the examination process had been identified, no evidence of malpractice or irregularities was found. Hence, the authorities concluded there was no need to submit a formal inquiry report.
Candidates, however, argue that even if the shortcomings were limited to procedural and clerical errors, the findings should have been documented in a formal report. They contend that such a report would identify the lapses, fix accountability, and help prevent similar errors in future recruitment examinations.