Forty-two employees appointed as Commercial Tax Inspectors through departmental examinations in Chhattisgarh’s Commercial Tax (GST) Department will be reverted to their original clerical posts after an inquiry found serious irregularities in the selection process.
The employees, originally working as clerks, were selected as Commercial Tax Inspectors through limited departmental examinations conducted in 2021 and 2022. Following complaints over the recruitment process, an inquiry committee examined the examinations and selection procedure.
Based on its findings, the examination and selection process has now been cancelled.
What Went Wrong in the Exam?
The inquiry found that posts for different categories had not been determined according to the reservation roster before the examination.
Government recruitment requires posts to be identified category-wise under the applicable reservation system. However, sufficient records showing that this procedure had been followed were not found.
The committee treated this as a major irregularity in the selection process.
Were Attendance Records Missing?
The original attendance records of candidates at examination centres were also unavailable during the inquiry.
Attendance registers from several centres were either not produced or could not be traced.
This made it difficult for the inquiry to verify which candidates had actually appeared for the departmental examination.
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Why Did Answer Sheets Raise Questions?
The inquiry found that a large number of selected candidates had given identical answers to several questions.
No satisfactory explanation was reportedly provided for these similarities.
The committee considered this a significant concern regarding the transparency of the examination process.
Answer-Sheet Coding Procedure Not Followed
The required coding procedure for maintaining the confidentiality of answer sheets had not been followed.
Answer-sheet coding is intended to conceal candidates’ identities from evaluators during assessment.
The absence of this procedure raised questions about the confidentiality and fairness of the evaluation process.
Marks Increased During Re-Evaluation
The inquiry further found that marks on some answer sheets were increased following re-evaluation.
According to the findings, the chairman and members of the selection committee, along with the examination controller, had re-evaluated answer sheets before the selection list was released.
The inquiry committee recorded the process as another serious irregularity and found that it could have provided an undue advantage to certain candidates.
Did Answer-Sheet Numbers Match?
Discrepancies were also detected in records showing how many answer sheets had been purchased, used and remained unused.
The inquiry found a significant difference between the figures recorded in official documents and the available records.
This raised further questions about the handling and monitoring of answer sheets during the examination.
Issue Raised in the Assembly
The controversy had reached the Chhattisgarh Assembly before the departmental inquiry.
MLA Anuj Sharma sought information from the government through a starred question on March 10, 2025, and an unstarred question on July 17, 2025.
The questions covered nodal officers, selection committee members, alleged reservation-roster violations and irregularities involving the examination and answer sheets. Questions regarding the role of officials were also raised through an attention motion.
What Happens to the 42 Inspectors?
Following the departmental inquiry and confirmation of irregularities, the selection of all 42 employees as Commercial Tax Inspectors has been cancelled.
They will now return to the clerical posts they held before being selected through the departmental examinations.
Further departmental action may follow on the basis of examination records and the findings concerning the selection process.
The case shows how irregularities in basic examination safeguards, from attendance records and reservation rosters to answer-sheet coding and re-evaluation, can put an entire selection process under question. With all 42 appointments now cancelled, scrutiny could shift to how the irregularities occurred and who was responsible for ensuring a fair examination.
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