Patna: Chief minister Nitish Kumar has taken seriously the fact that the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) has no written guidelines or policy for standard evaluation of answer scripts of all 32 optional subjects in the state civil services (main) examination to ensure a fair deal for candidates.

He has directed the general administration department and its principal secretary, Amir Subhani, to take up the matter as it "tarnishes the image of the state".

The anomaly has been continuing with the constitutional body since its inception on April 1, 1949, despite the Patna High Court criticising it over the issue on various occasions. The court had even directed the commission to either formulate the guidelines or adopt the Union Public Service Commission's pattern of evaluation to ensure that candidates from different optional subjects get equal opportunity in being selected.

In the absence of any standardised evaluation practice, candidates in some subjects like anthropology, Hindi literature and labour and social welfare get higher marks in comparison to candidates writing papers on economics, political science or philosophy.

A majority of those who qualify in the BPSC civil services (main) examination have anthropology, labour and social welfare LSW, or Hindi literature as optional subjects.

The issue was raised by one Aseem Kumar Srivastava from Siwan at Nitish's Lok Samvad (public dialogue) programme at his 1 Aney Marg official residence on Monday.

"Detailed guidelines pertaining to evaluation of answer books in examinations conducted by public service commissions have been given by the Supreme Court in a case. Yet BPSC has not adopted any moderation or scaling with regard to various subjects. It has not even prepared model answers needed for proper evaluation of answer books," Aseem said.

The Siwan resident pointed out that in the light of the persisting anomaly, aspirants opting for subjects other than anthropology, Hindi literature and labour and social welfare have become despondent about their future.

Nitish, who heard out Aseem for almost 20 minutes, said: "BPSC being a constitutional body, we cannot interfere in its functioning, but what is being said about evaluation should be looked into."

He then directed principal secretary Subhani to act. "Take up the matter because it spoils the image of Bihar," Nitish told the senior IAS officer, who himself was his batch's topper in the UPSC civil services exam.

The chief minister also said that he had held a review meeting in 2016 and directed that BPSC should prepare an examination calendar or schedule every year and stick to it instead of waiting for vacancies to be notified by various government departments.