New Delhi [India]: The Ministry of Railways has cancelled all pending departmental selections for Group C posts that were not finalized and approved before March 4, 2025, following the discovery of irregularities in the selection process.
Announcing the decision, the Ministry stated, “Due to several irregularities noticed in the departmental selections in the recent past, it has been decided to revisit the departmental selection framework and all the pending selections/ LDCES/ GDCES (within Group ‘C’) which have not been finalized and approved by 04.03.2025 may be treated as cancelled.”
The Ministry further clarified that no new selection processes will be initiated until further orders, adding that new guidelines for conducting departmental selections will be issued in due course.
The decision comes in the wake of a major scandal exposed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which arrested 26 Railway officials from East Central Railway in Mughal Sarai, Uttar Pradesh for their alleged involvement in leaking the question paper of a departmental examination.
The CBI conducted searches at eight locations, recovering Rs. 1.17 crore in cash, which was reportedly collected from candidates in exchange for leaked question papers. Several handwritten question papers and their photocopies were also seized. The seized documents were matched with the original question papers and found to be identical, the CBI reported.
The investigation revealed that 17 departmental candidates, currently working as Loco Pilots, had allegedly paid money to obtain the question paper and were caught red-handed with copies of it during the night of March 3rd-4th, 2025. All the accused have been arrested.
The CBI’s investigation further disclosed that a senior DEE (Ops) officer, who was responsible for setting the examination paper, was at the center of the scandal. He allegedly wrote down the questions in English and passed them to a Loco Pilot, who translated them into Hindi. The translated papers were then handed over to an Office Superintendent (Trg), who reportedly distributed them to the candidates through other railway employees.
The cancellation of pending selections and the ongoing investigation highlight the Ministry’s commitment to maintaining the integrity of its recruitment process and addressing corruption within the system.