ISLAMABAD, July 16: Although rumours held that the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) would cancel the results of the Central Superior Services (CSS) exams held in February, 2013, the commission has decided otherwise.

The rumours were based on the scandal which surfaced in May 2013, when the commission learnt that some CSS candidates in Faisalabad had managed to steal their answer sheets with the help of the post office officials and had then returned the papers after solving them.

This jolted the FPSC and created doubts about the fairness of the exams, and it was decided to handover the case to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

Furthermore, the commission decided to cancel the results of the Faisalabad region and was considering a fresh written test for all candidates after devising a fool-proof system, stating that involvement of educated youth in fraud and forgery was unacceptable.

An official of FPSC, requesting not to be identified, said roughly 16,000 students had applied for CSS 2013 but around 11,500 appeared for the exam.

“After the Faisalabad incident, there were suggestions in favour of the cancellation of the result. However, it has been decided that the exams would be held again only in the Faisalabad region, due to which less than 1,000 students would be affected as there were only four centres in the region,” he said.Director FPSC (CSS Section) Ramiz Ahmed, while talking to Dawn, said it would become difficult to hold exams all over the country again. Thereofre, it had been decided that the exams would be held only in Faisalabad and results of the other areas would be announced by September.

“We are devising a fool-proof security system for the next exam so that incidents such as the Faisalabad one are not repeated,” he said.

The rumours regarding the cancellation of exams had caused panic in some students, while students who were not satisfied with their performance in the exams, were hoping the rumours were true.

The cancellation would have covered these students’ performance without affecting their chance, as a candidate can only participate in CSS exams three times, Dawn has learnt.

A female student, Humera, who participated in the CSS examination, told Dawn that she had studied for 12 hours a day but after attempting the exam, she had come to know that the result might be cancelled.

“FPSC should devise a proper security system otherwise the efforts of the students would be ruined. Had the results been cancelled, it would have become difficult to start preparations again,” she said.

Another student, Asad, said cancellation of results would have disappointed him as he had been hoping to get selected for an important group such as DMG (district management group).

“Nevertheless, if the exams had been cancelled, I would have started preparations for the next exams which will be held in 2014,” he said.

A student Arsalan said he would not mind if FPSC cancelled the result as he was not very hopeful of his results.

“At least I will not face the embarrassment in front of my family and friends. Besides, I will not lose an attempt,” he said.