Over 10 lakh youths in Uttar Pradesh still await the examination that determines if they could land a job as review or assistant review officer (RO-ARO).

The exam was notified in October 2023. The preliminary (“prelims”) exam was set for 11 February 2024 but was later cancelled due to a paper leak.

On 5 November 2024, the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commision (UPPSC) announced that the RO-ARO prelims exam would be conducted on 22 and 23 December in three shifts, citing the 19 June 2024 government order.

The order had suggested measures to prevent paper leaks, such as restricting the kind of institutes that are selected as exam centres and conducting the exam in multiple shifts if the number of candidates exceeded 5 lakh.

The rationale behind the shifts suggestion was that with fewer candidates taking the exam in a shift in secure test centres, a fair exam (no paper leaks) would be conducted.

However, “normalisation” would be the byproduct. Normalisation is a statistical process that adjusts exam scores across different shifts by accounting for variations in question difficulty.

Since normalisation is not an easy thing to achieve practically, its outcomes seem arbitrary to candidates, who, as a result, feel a sense of opacity and bias in the exam process.

“Through normalisation, many people can be given a backdoor entry,” aspirant Shivam Yadav, who is preparing for the service selection commission (SSC) exam, tells Swarajya.

The aspirants protested against the UPPSC in November 2024 and got the body to agree to their demand to conduct the provincial civil services (PCS) exam in a single shift.

With 5.76 lakh candidates taking the exam — almost half the number of RO-ARO candidates — conducting the PCS prelims in a single shift was doable. The exam took place on 22 December 2024.

However, the UPPSC did not accept the demand for the RO-ARO exam, with its much larger aspirant pool of 10.76 lakh, to be conducted in a single shift. The exam was postponed.

At this point, it is unclear when the exam will be conducted and whether it will take place in a single shift or multiple shifts.

Media reports say the exam will be conducted only after the Maha Kumbh ends on 26 February.

This would mean that the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government would not have conducted a repeat exam to fill RO/ARO posts even over a year after the paper leak.

Unfortunately, this is not the only exam suffering from delays.

Besides, there are even cases where exams led to appointments before courts cancelled the recruitment.

One such case is the appointment of 69,000 assistant teachers in the state. The qualifying exam was conducted in January 2019, and the list of selected candidates was released in two parts in October 2020.

However, there were allegations that the reserved category aspirants were not given their fair share of appointments as per the law. The matter went to court.

In the meantime, the selected candidates began work as assistant teachers.

In the face of legal proceedings, the Uttar Pradesh government released another list, of 6,800 selected candidates from the reserved category, in January 2022, admitting that the Reservation Act, 1994, was not properly followed.

But the court case continued, and on 13 August 2024, the Allahabad High Court cancelled the recruitment, asking the state government to prepare a new list of selected candidates.

The Uttar Pradesh government moved the Supreme Court against this order. The apex court stayed the High Court order on 9 September. The matter is now pending in the Supreme Court.

“Until there is a final decision, we can’t do anything. The case is getting delayed because of the multiple writs filed. However, those who started working as assistant teachers are continuing to do so,” V P Rai, the Joint Secretary of the Basic Education Department, told Swarajya.

While the future of 69,000 candidates selected as assistant teachers is uncertain, there are two other recruitment processes stayed by the Allahabad High Court due to mismanagement of the organising agencies.

One is the Uttar Pradesh judicial service civil judge (junior division) exam, 2022, for which the Allahabad High Court has ordered a probe into the mains exam, after UPPSC accepted a ‘mistake’ in preparing the merit list of 50 candidates.

The other case pertains to the recruitment of 936 individuals as head radio operators in Uttar Pradesh Police. The Allahabad High Court cancelled the recruitment on 8 January 2025 due to a change in qualification.

What Went Wrong

These three cases of recruitment would not have come up short if the set rules and procedures were followed.

The assistant teacher recruitment case, for instance, would have never reached the courts if the selection had followed the reservation rules.

Similarly, in the case of the head radio operator recruitment for Uttar Pradesh Police, if the police recruitment and promotion board had stuck to its advertised diploma qualification requirement, the matter would not have gone to court.

Instead, Renuka Mishra, the then chairperson of the recruitment board, allowed degree holders, including engineers, to apply for the post.

Successor Rajiv Krishna revoked this decision but then faced the wrath of degree holders.

The case ultimately reached the High Court, which observed that only the government, and not the recruitment board, has the right to set the qualifications.

While Mishra was replaced prior to the court decision, due to a paper leak in the constable exam in February 2024, action is pending against officers who were responsible for the re-exam involving over 40,000 aspirants.

“It was all about interpretation,” said an individual on the Uttar Pradesh police recruitment board, in defence. “We said a diploma was the minimum qualification and people with higher qualifications could apply, and they did.”

However, he accepted that they could not persuade the court, and so, Allahabad High Court ordered a re-exam following a notification that is clearer about the eligibility. This notification is expected after the conclusion of the Maha Kumbh Mela.

Candidates who took the cancelled exam have received relief through the extension of age limits, so that they can still take the re-exam.

In the judicial service exam, the ‘error’ occurred because the ‘fake codes’ used to ensure the anonymity of candidates were interchanged between two bundles of 25 copies each, resulting in discrepancies in the mains result of 50 candidates.

An advocate at the Shravasti district court called this ‘mistake’ a “failure of the system” — “This cannot be a mistake. Errors are only ‘clerical.’ There is no such term used for senior officers. It is a betrayal to aspirants.”

“Consequently, those who have been wrongly excluded may be required to be interviewed, and a fresh merit list will need to be prepared,” the UPPSC told the Allahabad High Court and later declared five more candidates eligible for the interview.

Earlier, 302 of the 3,019 candidates who appeared for the mains exam were called for interviews, and even joining letters were distributed to the candidates selected in the interview round.

However, when the case reached the Allahabad High Court on the plea of a candidate, Shravan Pandey, who was among the five persons called for the interview later, after he was awarded lesser marks due to the exchange of copies, the UPPSC accepted its mistake.

Around the same time, in July 2024, three officers, including section officer Shiv Shankar, review officer Neelam Shukla, and assistant review officer Bhagwati Devi, were suspended, and action was initiated against two others.

Despite these corrective measures taken by the UPPSC, the court was not satisfied. On 20 December 2024, it ordered former chief justice Govind Mathur to lead an independent probe into the mains exam.

The commission is expected to present its report to the High Court on 31 May 2025.

But until then, the future of the selected candidates, as well as of the over 3,000 candidates who appeared for the mains exam, remains in limbo, as the commission will re-examine the copies of all the mains candidates.

State Government’s Response

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been quite responsive, to be fair. When the question paper for the Uttar Pradesh police constable recruitment exam of 17 and 18 February 2024 was leaked, he pledged to conduct the re-exam within six months.

Despite the model code of conduct for the 2024 Lok Sabha election coming into play for nearly two months, Adityanath fulfilled his commitment, and the constable exam for over 40 lakh applicants was conducted successfully in August 2024.

Meanwhile, Adityanath took strict action against ‘paper solver’ gangs, and candidates who used unfair means were also arrested.

The Chief Minister was also proactive in introducing the Uttar Pradesh Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Ordinance, 2024. It carried provisions of life imprisonment, a penalty of up to Rs 1 crore for those involved in unfair practices and paper leaks in public exams, and attachment of properties of the accused persons.

In addition, guidelines concerning the selection of test centres and paper printing agencies, printing and transportation of question papers, and restrictions on the number of candidates in a single shift were also issued.

Explaining the difference between the constable recruitment exams conducted in February 2024 (when the paper was leaked) and August 2024 (successfully), the individual on the board told Swarajya, “Earlier, we (the recruitment board) used to be in request mode with the district authorities. However, after the changes, the role of the District Magistrate and all other district officers was defined, which made them responsible and accountable, and ensured better cooperation with us.”

“Multiple agencies, including a few private ones, were roped in for various tasks. With the tasks divided and no direct communication among various agencies, paper leaks could be prevented,” the board member said.

“Learning from past mistakes, question papers were better secured this time at all levels, from printing to movement to distribution, using CCTV cameras. A foolproof plan was made,” the individual added.

The changes were felt even by candidates who appeared for the PCS prelims exam in December 2024.

Kalpana Sinha, a private tutor in Prayagraj, told Swarajya, “The paper was of a good (difficulty) level. The checking at the exam centre was done nicely, and jammers were working properly.”

“One more change was that, earlier, girls used to be allotted exam centres in their own cities, but this time, while their divisions were kept the same, the cities were changed,” said a UPPSC insider. “For boys, even the division was changed. This ensured no scheming was possible with the exam centres.”

Apart from improving the conduct of exams and preventing paper leaks, Adityanath is working to improve the efficiency of the recruitment processes.

One step in this direction is the creation of the Uttar Pradesh Education Service Selection Commission. The decision was taken against the backdrop of the pending 69,000 appointments of assistant teachers in the Basic Education Department.

Now, with a specialised agency for the appointment of staff in all departments of education — basic, secondary, higher, technical, vocational, and medical — the burden of the respective departments will be eased, ensuring greater efficiency.

“The commission has been formed, but has not started functioning. It is formed along the lines of the UP Secondary Education Service Selection Board, Prayagraj, but its scope is broader, with the inclusion of all departments,” Rai said.

He explained that the UPPSC is burdened, and there were a few disputes, after which the decision for a separate commission was taken. He expects the commission to start operating within the next four months.

Buoyed by the progress, Adityanath said in Vidhan Sabha in December 2024 that the education department had completed the recruitment process involving 1.6 lakh candidates, which was previously pending under the erstwhile Akhilesh Yadav-led government.

Similarly, the recruitment of 1.56 lakh candidates, including 22,700 women in Uttar Pradesh Police based on 20 per cent reservation for women, has been completed, taking the total count of government appointments to 7 lakh under Yogi Adityanath.

Inadequate Response

The progress made is still not enough to pacify the students who are still having to contend with delayed exams and fewer vacancies in government recruitment.

“Competitive exam aspirants are completely against the government. UPPSC has not been very responsive to our demands. Nobody knows when the RO-ARO exam will be held,” Shiv Sagar, who is preparing for the RO-ARO exam, said.

However, a UPPSC insider said, on the condition of anonymity, “The PCS prelims exams were an experiment for the RO-ARO exam. The government wanted to see if they could organise PCS prelims in a single shift, could the same be implemented for the RO-ARO exam.”

“A committee has been formed to study the success of the PCS prelims exam, so that the same strategy can be implemented for the RO-ARO exam. A decision on the date and number of shifts for this exam will be taken only after this committee’s report,” the source added.

However, the decision is already too late, and if the decision, whenever it comes, turns out contrary to the wishes of the aspirants, there could be more protests. The administration will have to convince the students about the transparency and reliability of the normalisation process.

“The last exam took place in 2021. In the last five years, vacancies have been issued only twice. It takes four to five years to complete a single recruitment process,” another RO-ARO aspirant said.

Similarly, an aspirant from Fatehpur pointed out that there has been no teacher recruitment in the last six years. The last exam was held in January 2019 for assistant professors, which, too, is pending in the Supreme Court.

Another issue pointed out by a PCS exam aspirant from Prayagraj is that nearly 30 questions on the prelims exam of December 2024 were challenged, of which 14 questions turned out to be ‘definitely wrong.’

“Only one exam is conducted in a single year, but still, many questions are wrong in the paper. After we challenge these questions, the final answer key is never released, so we never know which challenges were accepted and which were not,” the aspirant said.

Even as these grievances pour out, an observer working in the education sector says, “The government does not want to do much recruitment. It is more happy with contract employees, and hence the process is delayed.”

He added that if there were no compulsions for government recruitment, not even a single vacancy would be notified. He also alleged that corruption in recruitment agencies has led to the blunders.

It must be said that the Adityanath government has acted tough only against the accused who are outside the governance system, with only minimal actions against officials.

With these inadequate responses, the government cannot ensure ‘mistakes’ don’t happen again. It also bolsters the claims that government officials enjoy ‘unlimited’ powers in the Uttar Pradesh government.

“For many officials, the recruitment process is just a formality. They do not want to invest much energy in it,” an individual in the Uttar Pradesh secretariat told Swarajya. This explains why tightening the grip over officials is necessary.

The UPPSC’s approach, which was visible during the November 2024 protests, is also under question. Instead of empathy, the administration displayed arrogance, as evident from their attempts to initially look the other way and then disrupt the student protests after they took off.

The Adityanath government, as well as the recruitment agencies of the state, including the UPPSC, the police recruitment board, and the newly formed education service commission, must win the trust of the exam aspirants.

This can only be done by repeatedly conducting exams in a timely and fair manner, and maintaining transparency throughout the recruitment process.

At the same time, if the government really wants to cut down on recruitment, it should work on creating other avenues for employment while gently nudging the youth towards these other areas.

Until that happens, the Uttar Pradesh government is likely to face the ire of exam aspirants in the 2027 assembly election, given how large the pool of aspirants is, as well as how driven the opposition Samajwadi Party is in cashing in on youth issues.

It’s safe to say that the government exam issue could cost the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) electorally.

“The BJP will be back (in power) due to its work for the betterment of law and order and Hindutva issues, but its seats will definitely reduce in the 2027 election due to youth and government exam issues,” the Fatehpur aspirant said.

Adityanath seems to understand this reality, as evident from his focus on improving the government recruitment process. The government teacher vacancies could be notified by the end of this year.