Member says move to keep off mosquitoes, local scribes cry foul
Guwahati/Dibrugarh: Minutes after the arrest of Assam Public Services Commission’s chairman on Friday, a huge quantity of paper was set ablaze in the office chamber of a member who dubbed these as “non-official papers” that may help dengue mosquitoes to breed.
Security and other personnel in the APSC office said a huge quantity of paper was set ablaze in the office chamber of APSC member Basanta Kumar Doley within minutes of APSC Chairman Rakesh Paul’s arrest on November 4. Some journalists claimed that half burnt envelopes with names of candidates taking various examinations conducted by APSC were also found.
Doley, when asked by the media on Monday said “I told my office attender to burn the non-official papers lying in my room as they were potent places for dengue mosquitoes to breed in a closed AC room.” “There were too many mosquitoes in my room and it is said dengue mosquitoes breed in room AC’s water. So I asked for the papers to be taken out and burnt. They are not official documents, only waste papers were burnt,” Doley asserted.
Attender Til Bahadur Chetri said he had burnt the papers “on the orders of sir (Doley). He (Doley) gave me the papers in bags and I burnt them. I don’t know what papers they contained as I did not check them. Besides, I cannot read so I do not know what they were”.
Investigating officer of Dibrugarh district and its Additional Superintendent of Police Surjit Singh Paneshar said police will inquire into the incident and a special team may be sent from Dibrugarh district to probe it.
On sealing the Commission’s office, Paneshar said there are technical problems in doing so but it will investigate into the paper burning incident.
Police has meanwhile taken the call details of Paul’s mobile phone to find out which people and APSC examinees, if any, he had communicated with. Police is also on the lookout for Paul’s brother Rajib in whose printing press the duplicate answer scripts with APSC logo were printed.
Examination of those applying for APSC civil service and sanctioned posts were held in exchange of money.
Police said APSC examination answer scripts can only be printed at the government press and the cash-for-job examinees wrote their exams in the private printing press, a five star hotel in the city and private apartments as evidenced by the recovery of answer scripts from those places.
The examinees were provided duplicate answer scripts and books to write afresh their answers to replace their original answer scripts, the police said, adding these had been sent for forensic examination.
It was for the first time that the chairman of Assam Public Service Commission has been arrested.
Paul was picked up from his office on November 4 evening following complaints and evidences of a racket involving him and taken to the 4th Assam Police Battalion (APBN) at Kahilipara here for interrogation prior to his arrest under various sections of the IPC, Paneshar said.
Paul, who was a Notary prior to his appointment as member and then chairman of APSC, was on November 5 remanded to 14 days’ police custody by the special judge of Guwahati.
There was widespread public outcry for inquiry into how Paul, who from a humble post was appointed to the high office of APSC chairman and corrupted the administration system by selecting undeserving people in exchange of money overriding merit to administer the state.
According to lawyers here said no prior permission is required for the arrest of APSC chairman of the APSC or that of any state public service commission or union Public Service Commission but only the president can remove them from their post under Article 317 for “misbehaviour” or any other reason after making a reference to the Supreme Court.
APSC has been mired in controversies with allegations of corruption in selection and appointment of Assam Civil Service (ACS), Assam Police Service (APS), Education Service, allied services and all gazetted posts for exchange of hefty amounts.
Buckling under opposition pressure and from a section of Congress colleagues, former chief minister Tarun Gogoi had in July last year set up of an inquiry commission headed by a retired judge to probe the alleged irregularities.
A month before it, the Gogoi government after receiving five specific complaints from examinees had ordered a probe by an additional chief secretary into the alleged irregularities in the results of civil services examinations.
The present ruling alliance headed by BJP has been under pressure since it assumed office in May this year to take strict action against Paul and clean up APSC. (PTI)