The Opposition Congress on Monday demanded a high court judge-supervised CBI probe into the alleged dental surgeon and HCS officer recruitment scam in Haryana, and the removal of the Haryana Public Service Commission chairman over the issue.
Leader of Opposition in the Haryana Assembly Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the chairman of the commission cannot be absolved of his responsibility in the alleged “recruitment scam”.The Congress leader and former chief minister, along with Rohtak MLA B B Batra, claimed in the Assembly that the scam was not perpetrated by sacked HPSC deputy secretary Anil Nagar alone, but there is a deep-rooted conspiracy which needs to be investigated by the CBI under the supervision of a high court judge.Batra, a former HPSC chairman, said the incumbent chairman lacked in his duty and should be removed from office.He should step down on moral grounds, Batra added, taking part in the nearly three-and-a-half-hour-long discussion after opposition MLAs brought an Adjournment Motion on the alleged scam which surfaced recently.
The Congress has dubbed it the “biggest job scam of Haryana”. Nagar was sacked and arrested recently for allegedly taking bribes to manipulate marks obtained by candidates for recruitment.Towards the end of the discussion in the assembly on the motion, Congress MLAs staged a brief walkout as the government turned down the party’s demand for a CBI probe under the supervision of a high court judge, Batra later told reporters.Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, in his reply in the House, asserted that state agencies conducting the probe are competent and an impartial investigation was underway.
Those found guilty will not be spared, Khattar said, adding that if the opposition had any information related to discrepancy, it should give it to the State Vigilance Bureau or the court so that immediate action can be taken.Since many members of the opposition, including the Congress, mentioned during the discussions said the chief minister is honest, they should have faith as he was assuring a fair probe in the matter, Khattar said.Maintaining that his government has given jobs on merit and in a transparent manner, Khattar said that since many members of the opposition, including of the Congress, mentioned during the discussions that the chief minister is honest, they should have faith as he was assuring a fair probe in the matter.
The lengthy discussion on the motion also saw sharp exchanges between ruling and opposition benches, with some Congress MLAs rushing to the Well of the House, demanding a high court-monitored probe.On the alleged scam, Khattar said HPSC officials, including the chairman and the secretary, are being associated with the investigation on a regular basis. OMR sheets and digital media obtained from HPSC have been sent for forensic examination, he added.Notices have been sent to suspects who appeared in the HCS as well as the dental surgeon examination, and some of them have joined the investigation, the chief minister said.
The investigation so far has revealed that the accused did not succeed in compromising any examination other than the HCS preliminary and the dental surgeon examination conducted by the HPSC, Khattar said.A free and impartial inquiry is being conducted by the state vigilance, he said.Congress leader Batra, however, questioned the HPSC chairman’s role.”What was the chairman doing all this while? He cannot be absolved for the wrongdoings committed by the deputy secretary and any other official of the commission,” he said, demanding the HPSC chairman’s removal.Hooda cited an unverified communication doing the rounds on social media platforms in which two people are apparently discussing the recruitment done by the HPSC and the role money played in it.He demanded that this too needs to be investigated.
Responding, Khattar launched an attack on the previous Congress government in the state, saying 11 recruitments made by it were cancelled by the courts. Hooda said those were on “technical grounds” and not because of any allegation of corrupt practices.On repeated attacks from the treasury benches, Hooda said he was open to any probe if the government thinks wrongdoings were done by the Congress.BJP MLA Harvinder Kalyan demanded that the government should issue a white paper on how many candidates recruited to top posts between 2005 and 2014 were relatives of legislators, MPs, ministers etc.Indian National Lok Dal leader Abhay Singh Chautala also attacked the government over the alleged scam and demanded an independent probe.
Earlier, senior Congress leader Kiran Choudhary said after the alleged scam came to light, the government’s response was too little and too late. “It is a ploy to net in the small fish and save big crocodiles in the game,” the legislator said.The opposition also questioned why Anil Nagar, a relatively junior HCS officer of the 2016-batch, was posted as deputy secretary of the HPSC against a non-sanctioned post.The HPSC chairman has been the chief minister’s aide-de-camp (tours) for a number of years, and so hopes for a fair probe in the matter at the government-level are dim, Choudhary said.Maintaining the pristine purity of the selection process in public employment is imperative to keep faith in the system intact. For this, the HPSC and the HSSC should be completely revamped, the opposition demanded.
