The postponement of the Manipur Civil Services Combined Competitive Examination, 2022 has sparked a major controversy after a shocking question paper mix-up forced the Manipur Public Service Commission (MPSC) to reschedule one of its key papers.

Six major student organisations — AMSU, MSF, DESAM, KSA, SUK and AIMS — have strongly condemned the incident and demanded a high-level inquiry into the printing press responsible for producing the examination papers.

According to the student bodies, the question paper for Paper-V (General Studies-IV) was mistakenly distributed in place of the scheduled Paper-IV (General Studies-III) during the morning session on the final day of the examination held on November 9.

MPSC attributed the blunder to “technical and printing errors” and announced that the postponed Paper-IV will now be conducted on November 22, 2025.

Terming the episode a “gross act of negligence,” the student organisations said such an error is unacceptable in an examination meant to select future bureaucrats and civil servants. They warned that the incident has severely undermined public trust in the state’s premier recruitment body.

The groups also revealed that the printing of question papers had been outsourced to a press outside Manipur, raising concerns over confidentiality and accountability. They demanded an immediate and impartial investigation into the printing press and cautioned the state government against re-engaging the same press or any entity involved in the mishandling of the question papers.