Proxy Scandal in Government Recruitment Tests: 319 Fake Candidates Arrested in Nine Months, All Sent to Jail

One person applies, but someone else sits the exam — fraud of this kind in government recruitment tests has now reached an alarming level. In the first nine months of this year, 319 people were caught in the capital posing as fake candidates during recruitment examinations of various ministries and agencies. After their arrest, each of them was sentenced through summary trials and sent to prison.

Enquiries show that a total of 115 cases were filed over these incidents. The Special Metropolitan Magistrate of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) handed down sentences ranging from a minimum of 15 days to a maximum of one year through summary trials. In other words, every fake candidate who was caught has had to serve jail time.

The highest number of fake candidates was caught in the judges' recruitment examination. As many as 246 people were arrested while sitting the Judicial Service Commission examination, and 105 cases were filed over that single test. More than three-quarters of all arrests came from this one examination alone, painting a grim picture of fraud in a process as sensitive as the recruitment of judges.

Beyond that, 28 people were arrested in the Food Ministry's recruitment test and 30 in the prison guard recruitment test, with three cases filed over the latter. Eight were caught in the Land Ministry's test, three in the Establishment Ministry's test, two in the Railway's recruitment test and two in the Government Employees Hospital's recruitment test.

Experts say the trend of one person sitting an exam on behalf of a genuine candidate is growing day by day, putting the credibility of the entire recruitment system in question. Deserving candidates are being deprived, while those who obtain jobs through fraud raise questions about the quality of public service itself.

Senior Supreme Court lawyer A B M Altaf Hossain told Ajker Patrika: 'Incidents of proxies in recruitment exams are increasing because of moral degradation. This is very worrying. Summary trials alone will not do. Regular cases should be filed against both the applicant and the person who sat the exam, and they should be banned for life from public examinations.'

The same lawyer also stressed modernising the examination system. In his view, the system needs to be improved with biometrics so that there is no opportunity at all for one person to sit another's exam. He also advised framing a new policy for public examinations.

Barrister Mashiur Rahman Sabuj, a guest faculty member in the law departments of Dhaka University and several other universities, echoed the same view. He said incidents of sitting exams for others are increasing, and both the applicant and the proxy must be brought under punishment. He also favoured banning them from any public examination for at least five years.

Analysts say the current summary-trial sentences of 15 days to one year are not acting as a sufficient deterrent. Even when a proxy is caught, the real applicant on whose behalf the exam was sat often remains beyond reach — and unless that loophole is closed, breaking the fraud cycle will be difficult, they believe.

Those involved say the huge number of candidates in recruitment tests and the fierce competition for limited posts are a major reason behind this fraud. The more young people's attraction to government jobs grows, the more attempts are being made to obtain those jobs through dishonest means — the figure of 319 arrests in nine months makes that picture clear.

It now remains to be seen how quickly the recruiting authorities implement tougher measures along the lines experts have advised — regular cases against both the applicant and the proxy, long-term or lifetime bans, and biometric verification. Without them, the fear of a repeat of the same picture in upcoming examinations remains.