Forest guard exam: EF&CC deptt. dispels misgivings

Environment, Forest & Climate Change (EF&CC) department through the chief conservator of forests (CCF) HQ has sought to dispel the misgivings concerning alleged irregularities, negative marking, purported leak of question booklet and the like in the forest guard recruitment process.
In a press release, CCF informed that recruitment to the post of forest guard was exempted from the purview of the Nagaland Staff Selection Board (NSSB). CCF stated that P&AR department issued Circular dated September 19, 2024, regarding recruitment process of posts in uniformed services exempted from the purview of NSSB.
CCF said P&AR notification mentioned that each department shall set up a departmental recruitment board (DRB) with representatives from administrative departments, P&AR, finance and law & justice departments.
Therefore, CCF said the DRB was constituted for recruitment to the post of forest guard in conformity with government’s decision, adding that modalities for conducting recruitment were decided by the DRB.
On reports in various social media platforms about alleged irregularities in the conduct of the recruitment (like walking test as well as the written exam), the EF&CC department has urged aggrieved candidates to submit written applications to verify the complaint for required remedial measures, if any. CCF informed that applications could be submitted by email to pccf.hoff-ngl@gov.in, adding that all such applications should be submitted to the department latest by July 28, 2025.
Regarding negative marking, CCF said that had there been a provision for the same, it would have been mentioned in the instructions in the question booklet given to candidates. CCF also said that if any further clarification was required, the same could have been done with the invigilators and supervisors, present at the examination venue.
On verification of candidates’ identity, CCF informed that all admit cards were verified along with Aadhar cards.
On the question of overage candidates being allowed to sit for the examination, CCF said age relaxation of three years with the upper age limit as 38 years had been approved by the State Cabinet for recruitment to the uniformed services. Further, CCF said a one-time exemption was given by the government vide letter dated June 10, 2025 to applicants who were within the age limit (i.e. 37 years) during the submission of applications in 2023 but became overage subsequently in 2025.
Regarding purported leak of question booklet that appeared on social media, CCF said the department took cognizance of the alleged action of the staff.
CCF clarified that upon receiving the report of the paper leak, the department immediately identified the booklet through the printed code, which belonged to Mon centre.
CCF said divisional forest officer (DFO) Mon carried out an investigation through which the perpetrator was identified and apprehended on the same night i.e. July 12, 2025. CCF said perpetrator confessed to his actions and admitted that it was an unused question booklet which he shared, adding question booklet was also retrieved from him.
According to CCF, the DFO Mon submitted a report of the case, and the matter was referred to police department for investigating the time of upload of the question booklet on social media. As per police report, CCF said the time question booklet was shared by the perpetrator on social media was 4:59pm, which established that the leak occurred after the conduct of written examination. CCF said appropriate action was being taken against the concerned staff by the department as per extant rules and regulations.
CCF informed that those candidates who want to assess their performance in the forest guard written examination, the question booklets along with the answer keys were available in the departmental website: forest.nagaland@gov.in.
Meanwhile, EF&CC department has informed all responsible that information regarding the forest guard recruitment examination would be provided as per the extant norms followed by recruiting agencies such as NPSC and NSSB etc.