Where did exam papers go? J&K High Court to hold fresh exam for 67 candidates after 'exam material falls short'

The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court on the administrative side has announced a separate examination for 67 candidates who had applied for the posts of junior assistants in the high court.

The announcement was after examination material – question booklets and OMR sheets – could not be provided to these candidates during the examination held across J&K on July 19. The written examination was conducted through an outsourced agency.

In a notice issued on July 20, the High Court Registrar General MK Sharma said that examination material “fell short” for the 67 candidates who were to take the exam at Jammu Institute of Ayurveda and Research, Nardani, Kot Balwal.

“Accordingly, it has been resolved that the leftover 67 candidates who could not appear in the examination for the aforesaid reason, shall be informed through publication that their examination shall be held within two weeks for which date, time and venue shall be notified within next two days,” Sharma said in the notification. 

It is not clear how the question papers were not available for all the candidates despite advance planning for the examination. Sharma could not be contacted despite repeated attempts via phone by Bar & Bench.

Videos of the examination centre in Jammu, accessed by Bar & Bench, reveal that chaos broke out after candidates who had reached the centre with admit cards issued by the High Court, were not provided with question papers.

Aggrieved over the lapse, some candidates were seen attempting to enter the examination hall and record the examination being conducted for other candidates at the same centre.

“We were properly asked to sit inside the hall but then no sheets [question papers] were provided. Who is responsible for this? It is 12:30 and there are no sheets. They are saying we are not responsible. Are we responsible... who came after traveling 500 kms,” a candidate is heard saying in a video.

The High Court had issued an advertisement for 48 vacancies of junior assistants on May 26, 2025. However, the examination was not held for over one year.

On May 8 this year, the High Court announced that since a large number of applications were received, the examination shall be held through offline OMR mode instead of Online Computer Based Test (CBT). It also announced negative marking for wrong answers. 

The examination was finally conducted on July 19 at various centers in Srinagar and Jammu under tight security including that of J&K Police. 

[Read Notice]