Ministry of Railways clarifies concerns raised by candidates over shortlisting process for second stage of ongoing recruitment examination

The Ministry of Railways issued a clarification after some candidates raised concerns over the process of shortlisting candidates for the second stage of the ongoing recruitment examination under Railway Recruitment Boards (RRB) for Non-Technical Popular Categories (NTPC) - Graduate and Under-graduate.

"Attention of the Railways has been drawn to the concerns raised by some candidates over the process of shortlisting of candidates for the second stage of the ongoing recruitment examination under RRBs Centralised Employment Notice (CEN) No. 01/2019 (for Non-Technical Popular Categories - Graduate and Under-graduate) - results of which were announced on January 1, 2022," said the Ministry of Railways in a statement issued on Saturday.

In this connection, it is reiterated that the procedure for shortlisting of candidates for the second stage computer-based test (CBT) had already been given elaborately under Para 13 of the original notification published on February 28, 2019, said the ministry.

In this employment notification, thirteen categories were advertised which were open to graduates and six of these for under-graduates, stated the ministry, adding that these thirteen categories were segregated into five groups based on 7th CPC pay-scale levels (viz., Levels 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) and the stage-wise procedure of recruitment for each category have already been indicated clearly in para 13.6 of the CEN. Every candidate was free to opt for all or any of these thirteen categories subject to conditions of eligibility, stated the ministry.

"While the first stage CBT was a common examination for all the candidates, Para 13.2 of the notification clearly states that in the 2nd stage CBT there would be a separate examination for each group (viz., Levels 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) with differing graded levels of difficulty. Accordingly, all posts falling within the same level shall have a common 2nd stage CBT. Therefore, if a candidate is eligible and has opted for more than one level (as per educational qualification), he/she will have to appear in the corresponding 2nd stage CBT for each level as given in Para 13.6 since the standard (difficulty level) for each group of posts will be different (i.e., of graduate or undergraduate level)," said the ministry.

It is also brought to the attention of Candidates that as per provisions the number of Candidates to be called for the NTPC Second Stage Exam is only 10 times the number of approved vacancies, said the ministry.

According to the ministry, this number of calling 10 times of the number of vacancies was increased to 20 times the number of vacancies in CEN 1/2019 to protect the interest of the candidates when shortlisting is done across levels, and ensuring meritorious candidates are not denied an opportunity.

Hence, to cover a reasonable number of candidates for the 2nd stage CBT, the number of candidates to be shortlisted has been kept at twenty times the community-wise vacancies of posts notified based on their merit in the 1st stage CBT cum preference of posts, it added.

In addition, while an eligible candidate will have to appear for each separate corresponding 2nd stage CBT as per his/her eligibility and option, he/she will be selected and the final appointment will be against one post only. Hence the question of depriving any deserving candidate of selection does not arise, said the ministry.

( With inputs from ANI )

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