The malpractices, first exposed by Express Newsline, involved the distribution of pre-written answer sheets at National Urdu High School, in Kalyan.

``The Railway Board informed us about their decision to scrap the examination on Tuesday,'' Adesh Sharma, RRB Chairman, Mumbai stated. He said a notification on the cancellation would shortly be issued. The malpractices are being probed by a central vigilance committee who is to submit a detailed report based on their findings to the railway board.

Sharma said that fresh examinations would be conducted sometime in early 1999. Looming above the RRB is a fresh logistical nightmare of informing nearly 11 lakh candidates about the exam dates.

``We need at least three months to prepare for the exams, including hiring schools and despatching fresh call lettersto candidates,'' he said.

Four and a half lakh candidates appeared for the exams for recruitment to the popular non-technical category of staff in these six centres on November 29. The remaining 7.2 lakh candidates were to appear in the exams on Sunday, December 13. However, with an ongoing enquiry, the railway board on Wednesday announced that these exams to be held in Mumbai, Surat, Pune, Nagpur, Bhusaval and Sholapur were being postponed.