Interviewers don't have access to candidate's quota info: UP Govt

Lucknow: The interview process for government jobs is based on "coding" wherein aspirants' personal information such as reservation category and age are hidden from the council of interviewers, the Uttar Pradesh government said in a reply to Union minister of state Anupriya Patel over concerns raised by her regarding alleged bias against backward, scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) aspirants.

Patel, the chief of Apna Dal (S), an ally of the BJP in UP, had said in a letter to chief minister Yogi Adityanath that in recruitment to government jobs, reserved category vacancies were sometimes being filled by general candidates and the reason cited was that "no suitable reserved category candidate was found for the post" and the seats were then declared unreserved. She requested the CM to stop this practice as it gave rise to anger among aspirants from such categories.

"The interview process is based on coding through which aspirants' serial number, name, registration number, reservation category and age is hidden. This ensures personal details of the aspirant is not known to the council," a two-page government reply said. "Interview council does not mention 'not suitable' but the grading. And, on the principle of averages, it is changed into marks and mentioned in the marksheet."

The state government further said that if aspirants belonging to any category do not get the average qualification marks, then the commission does not have the right to change the unfilled vacancies into a different category and that these vacancies are "carried forward".