Mysuru: A complaint has been filed at the Mandi Mohalla Police Station regarding alleged irregularities in the recruitment process of the Railway Co-operative Bank, Mysuru. The complainant, Jinnambe, a resident of Nagamangala in Mandya district, has questioned the fairness of the process.

The complaint names several individuals, including P. Mahesh, an official in the Co-operative Department; Dr. Jagannath L. Rathod, a Professor at Karnatak University (Dharwad) Post-Graduate Centre, Karwar, who conducted the exams; Dr. S. Marigowda, Principal of Vidyavardhaka First Grade College, who served as the exam supervisor; D.R. Kumuda, an invigilator for Room 3A at the exam centre; and the then Bank President, M. Yathiraju, among others.

According to Jinnambe’s complaint, the Railway Co-operative Bank issued a recruitment notification for 21 posts in June 2023. She applied for the posts of senior cashier, junior clerk and office assistant, and appeared for the written exam at Vidyavardhaka Law and Degree College in Mysuru on March 10, 2024. She was allotted Room 3A  for the examination.

Missing OMR sheet copy

During the written test, Jinnambe noticed that the carbon copy (duplicate) of the OMR sheet for the senior cashier’s position was missing.

“When I questioned invigilator Kumuda about the missing carbon copy, she claimed that the Dharwad University Examination Division, which supplied the sheets, does not provide duplicates. Exam supervisor Marigowda reiterated the same and warned me that if I continued to question or cause a disturbance, I would be removed from the exam hall,” Jinnambe stated in her complaint.

Interview by Bank President

“A few days later, instead of releasing the key answers for the examination, a merit list was directly published, where my name appeared in Serial Number 2. Following this, I received an interview call letter and attended the interview on June 14. Surprisingly, the interview was conducted by the then Bank President, Yathiraju, without the presence of a representative from the Co-operative Department,”  Jinnambe stated.

“During the interview, when I again inquired about the missing OMR sheet copy and the non-publication of key answers, I was told that the documents had been handed over to Dr. Jagannath Rathod, the Administrative Officer of Karnatak University Post-Graduate Centre, Karwar. I was assured that the information would be shared if he returned the documents,” she wrote                                                                 in her complaint.

Correct answers in small font

Later, on June 21, Jinnambe received another call letter for a second interview, this time conducted by Mahesh, the Co-operative Department’s representative. The final recruitment selection list was published on July 1, 2024.

“Subsequently, upon obtaining and reviewing the recruitment notification, answer sheet, all versions of the key answers for the senior cashier’s position, and the certified merit list of candidates, I discovered that the English version of the question paper contained 50 questions, each with four options. However, the correct answers were printed in small font, allowing individuals to mark the desired option as needed,” she mentioned in  the complaint.

No correspondence with University

Through an RTI request filed with the DPAR Division of Karnatak University, Jinnambe learned that there was no official correspondence between the University and the Railway Co-operative Bank regarding the recruitment process.

Additionally, no officers or staff from the University had been assigned to oversee the examination. It was revealed that Dr. Jagannath Rathod, without the University’s approval, had conducted the Railway Bank recruitment exam using the seal of the Karwar Post-Graduate Centre’s Administrative Officer, she alleged in her complaint.

“Through another RTI request, I sought information from Dr. Jagannath Rathod regarding this matter. He stated that all related documents were handed over to the bank officials after the examination. He also claimed there were no errors in the OMR sheet entries,” Jinnambe stated.

“The responsibility of selecting external agencies to conduct examinations lies with the representative of the Registrar of Co-operative Societies. However, violating regulations, fake documents were created and the examination was fraudulently conducted to recruit individuals of their choice and preference,” she detailed in her Police complaint.