New Delhi : Railways has said that process of examination in case of Employment Notification CEN 01/2019 on 28.02.2019 for 35,281 NTPC vacancies that had attracted 1,26,30.885 applicants was impacted by COVID-19 related restrictions and resultant two lockdowns and as such examination was held in phases
Stating that CBT was held in 68 days ,133 shifts across 33 States/UTS, 208 cities and 726 centers, Railways in a statement issued on Monday said that after completion of CBTs, candidates were informed about the answer key and also the options they had ticked, adding therein that objection link was made available to raise objections against the tentative answer keys from 18th to 23rd August this year.
Railways in it’s statement further said that 93,263 objections were received from all the candidates on 6,435 unique questions and are being examined by Chairpersons RRBs. Stating that the final answer key in all 133 shifts X 100 questions X shift 15 different languages =1,99,500 Questions will be decided once all the objections are examined, the railways in the above quoted statement said that the final answer keys will be used to prepare the final merit of candidates to determine the cut off for calling candidates for 2nd stage CBT, adding therein that
the merit list for calling candidates to the next stage will be released 15th January next year,i.e, the commencing month .
Stating that 20 times the number of vacancies in each category for et RRB will be called for second stage CBT, the Railways said “ Vastness of Examination:Non
NTPC 1.26 Cr, SSC 70 Lakh, UPSC 9 to 11 Lakhs, CAT 2.5 Lakhs, China College exam 1 Cr Banking 10-20 lakhs depends on vacancies, Language- Examination in 15 languages, Challenges to conduct examination- Under Covid Protocol only 50 % of the Examination centre capacity has been utilised to maintain social distancing, Status of recruitment of CEN RRC-01/2019 – Level 1, Central Employment Notification CEN RRC-01/2019 was issued on 23.02.2019 for 1,03,769 Level-1 vacancies across all Zonal Railways/ Production Units of Indian Railways”.
Revealing that 1,15,67284 applications have been received , Railways in the above quoted statement said “Opening date of Online application 12 March 2019 to 12 April 2019, Online and other payment upto 26/04/2019, Rejection of candidature 5.48,829, August 2019 Given chase to represent and 1,61,435 representation arrived, 44,422 found fit” .Stating that lots of representations were being received from candidates to provide them another opportunity to upload the correct photo and signature and they have also filed petitions in various Central Administrative Tribunals and courts, the Railways in it’s statement said “After the Court decision in August railway has taken the decision to give the opportunity to correct the signature and photo defects”.
In the concluding para of it’s statement Railways said “ a lots of applications have been rejected on account of Invalid Photo and/or Invalid signature are being given chance”, adding that “ On 26/11/2021 Railway has published on its website that opportunity will be given to these candidates”, stating therein further that “ Link for this will be provided before 15.12.2021 on all official websites of RRBs”.
