Govt. not against conducting re-exam of KAS prelims for third time, says Siddaramaiah

Karnataka Chief Minister allows re-examination of KAS preliminary exam amid allegations of malpractices and translation errors.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday informed the Karnataka Legislative Assembly that the State government would allow re-examination of the KAS preliminary conducted by the Karnataka Public Services Commission (KPSC) if the Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal (KSAT) pronounces a verdict in favour of it.

Candidates who had appeared for the KPSC preliminary examination have challenged the notification issued by the KPSC for conducting the main examination before the KSAT and the tribunal has directed the commission to keep its notification in abeyance. The KSAT has not issued any stay order and it is expected to hear the matter on Thursday (March 13, 2025), he said. The KPSC had earlier issued a notification for recruitment to fill 384 gazette probationary posts.

The BJP and JD(S) demanded conducting the preliminary examination for the third time, following malpractices and mistakes in the Kannada translation of the question paper, to ensure justice to Kannada-medium and rural students.

In his reply to the issue raised by BJP and JD(S) members on wrongly translated questions for Kannada-medium candidates in the KAS preliminary exams twice, Mr. Siddaramaiah said, “I will not come in the way of reconducting of the preliminary examination if the KSAT issues an order in favour of the re-examination. Even if the KSAT did not issue an order for re-examination, I will hold discussions with the KPSC chairman and members and leaders of all political parties for a decision on re-examination.”

The Chief Minister agreed with Leader of the Opposition R. Ashok, who alleged that the KPSC was a “den of corruption”, and said the government has appointed members of the statutory body (KPSC), but it has no powers to remove them. The government has limited powers with regard to the functioning of the KPSC. In the past too, several scams occurred in the body, he said.

As part of measures to bring in reforms, he proposed to set up a search committee to identify honest members for the KPSC.

As per the expert committee of the KPSC, there were 10 and six mistakes, respectively, in translation in the first and second preliminary test papers. Quoting the Supreme Court ruling of 2018, the Chief Minister said the government had no authority to dispute the expert panel’s report.