Uncertainty looms for railway job aspirants as PIL filed against TCS iON

With the petition, uncertainty will prevail till Indian Railways gets a clean chit from the judiciary

Earlier this year, Indian Railways had announced it is going to hire over 100,000 people during the current fiscal for posts such as assistant loco pilots, technicians, trackmen, etc in Group C and D. But the fate of aspirants is uncertain as a public interest litigation has been filed in Delhi High Court challenging the appointment of TCS iON by Indian Railways for computer-based test (CBT) for recruitment.

The petition, filed by Shailendra Sharma, alleged that the ministry of railways and the Railway Recruitment Control Board (RRCB) had awarded the contract for conducting the CBT to TCS iON on the nomination, instead of through a bidding process which violates the guidelines of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), the Mint reported.

The first stage of the hiring process extended over ten days, between August 9 and 31, was never short of controversies from delay in issuing notifications to allotment of far-away centres to candidates. For the current set of exams, initially, the Railways was planning to hire 26,502 candidates, but it came out with a notification saying that 60,000 people are “likely to be” hired.

The recruitment exams will continue till October, while the result dates are yet to be announced. With this petition, uncertainty will prevail till Indian Railways gets a clean chit from the judiciary.

Queries sent by Mint to both Indian Railways and TCS iON remained unanswered. They refused to share details of the contract stating the matter was sub judice.

For computer-based examinations like CAT or GATE, various institutes and universities enter into a MoU to conduct tests where TCS has been a market leader for past few years. In 2016-17, TCS won the contract to conduct tests, charging Rs 100 per candidate.

In February, the railways had floated a tender for empanelment of examination conducting agencies with a closing date of February 28. However, on February 22 it issued a public notice stating the date of submission of RFQ documents had been postponed and a fresh date would be notified. But on June 25 it discharged the tender without assigning any reasons through a public notice.

Talking to Mint, a senior railway official said, “Railways can justify the move. Under Rule 194 of General Financial Rules 2017, the government can select an entity by direct negotiation/nomination, on the lines of single tender mode under exceptional circumstance. For example, such tasks that represent a natural continuation of previous work carried out by the firm or situations where only one consultant has the requisite expertise.” In case of TCS iON both the rules applied, he added.

The notice by the Delhi High Court was received by lawyer Jagjit Singh on behalf of the railways and the RRCB and the next date of hearing is fixed for December 10.