RRB NTPC Exam: Railways Constitutes High Level Committee to Address Students' Grievances

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 14.01.2022. RRBs have postponed the 2nd Stage CBT of NTPC and 1st Stage CBT of Level one.

A high-power committee comprising of senior officials has already been formed to look into the concerns raised by candidates in regard to the results of 1st Stage Computer Based Test (CBT) of NTPC exam without affecting existing shortlisted candidates and Introduction of 2nd Stage CBT in CEN RRC 01/2019. The candidates can lodge their concerns and suggestions to the committee till 16.02.2022 at following email id: rrbcommittee@railnet.gov.in . 

The committee after examining these concerns will submit their recommendations by 04th March, 2022. However, the following is illustrated to give the background details and the process followed so far.In response to the concerns raised by candidates over the questions raised over the 2-stage Computer Based Test (CBT) conducted as part of recruitment process, Railways has clarified that in case the number of candidates who have applied against the notification are large in number and are more than one crore, then, it is advisable to conduct CBT in two stages with 1st Stage being used to screen the candidates for 2nd Stage and 2nd Stage CBT conducted with limited candidates so that extensive normalization is not involved and the final merit is more just and fair.

With regards to the concerns over number of candidates being shortlisted for 2nd stage CBT, Railways has stated that for Centralized Employment Notification (CEN) 01/2019, the 1st stage CBT has been made common for Graduates and 10+2 pass candidates, it has been prescribed in the CEN that candidates 20 times the notified vacancies will be called for 2nd Stage CBT so that adequate candidates are given opportunity to appear in 2nd Stage CBT after screening through 1st Stage CBT.

In order to clear the confusion over the question “Short listing should be done for 7 lakh candidates not 7 lakh roll numbers”, nowhere was it mentioned that 7 lakh distinct candidates will get shortlisted for 2nd stage CBT. Since a 2nd Stage consists of CBT of five different levels and a candidate can be shortlisted for more than one level as per eligibility, merit and option, the lists of 7 lakh roll numbers will have some names appearing in more than one list. 

The short listing has been done level/post wise at the rate of 20 times notified vacancies as elaborated in para 13 of notification. The lists contain 7,05,446 roll numbers which is 20 times notified vacancies of 35281. Finally, 35,281 distinct candidates will be selected and one candidate will be appointed against only one post depending upon merit and preference. Hence no post will remain vacant.In response to the concerns that graduate candidates are getting undue benefit of becoming eligible for both Graduate and 10+2 level posts, Railways has elucidated that the integration of recruitments for Graduate and 10+2 level posts have been done to save time, energy and effort which has been proved useful during COVID 19 pandemic. 

Also, standards of Computer Based Test 1 (CBT 1) have been kept of 10+2 level so as to not to put disadvantage to 10+2 level students and it is only in CBT 2 that standards will be different across levels.With regards to the delay in recruitment process, Railways has observed that the recruitment process has got delayed due to COVID 19 pandemic since March 2020 and various restrictions imposed on that account by various states. The capacity that can be utilized for CBT has also got impacted because of social distancing norms leading to increase in number of shifts. 1st Stage CBT of CEN 01/2019 involved 133 shifts.