Jammu, Mar 10: TheJammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) on Friday said that the APTECH company hired by the SSB for conducting recruitment exams “is not blacklisted” and has been hired in a very transparent manner after a fair and prescribed tendering process.
“The company hired by the Board is not blacklisted as on date rather it was blacklisted in UP in May 2019 for a period of 3 years i.e upto May 2022,” SSB Chairman, Rajesh Sharma said while talking to media persons here today.
Replying to a question, the Chairman said, “The company in question is not blacklisted now and added, “the company qualified all the parameters prescribed for tendering and was the highest bidder on quality-cum-cost based selection (QCBS) mode”.
There were four bidders and two companies/agencies technically qualified all the laid down criteria, Sharma said in reply to another question and added, “The in question which has been hired by the Board will be charging Rs 267 per candidate while the other was to charge more than Rs 300”.
So as per rules, the company/agency hired by the Board automatically deserved the tender, the Chairman added.
Sharma said that there are specific rules provided in General Financial Rules 2017 of GoI to deal with debarment/blacklisting. “The tender process has been undertaken strictly as per the rules,” the Chairman added.
He also said that those who are protesting on roads are not the aspirants/candidates. “I doubt that those who are protesting are the candidates,” he said. Adding, “the protests are being held by a section of the society and not the candidates and is an attempt to defame the Board and derail the recruitment process”.
The SSB Chairman said that SSB will ensure fair exams and fair selection of deserving candidates.
The Chairman further added that the agency hired by the Board is already conducting exams across the country and has also been executing prime projects in NTA,CBSE (2023) and other government bodies.
The hired agency has also successfully completed many CBT based examinations like UGC NET (2020, 2021), JNU Entrance Exam, (JNUEE 2021), Delhi University Entrance Test (DUET 2019, 20 and 2021 etc where lakhs of candidates i.e around 52 lakhs have participated.
He further said that around 50,000 candidates have so far downloaded the admit cards for the exam to be conducted by the Board.
