Patricia Mukhim
This week I want to focus on the cash for job scam in Assam. Also I would like to share with readers that our story with a dateline from West Khasi Hills where job seekers alleged that non-official members (political appointees) in the District Selection Committees (DSC) and the Meghalaya Public Service Commission (MPSC) very often pad up the marks of the candidates of their choice during the personal interview even when they have fared badly in their written examinations. Those who spoke to our correspondent did so, on condition of anonymity since they were still job seekers and feared that they might be victimised if their names were known. This report, instead of being taken in the right spirit, resulted instead in a knee jerk reaction from the Chairman, MPSC who served a legal notice on the editor and publisher of this newspaper. Indeed this is the modus operandi adopted by government officials and politicians when they are criticised for failing in their duties. They believe that by intimidating the media they would be able to carry on with the anomalies in their respective departments. Considering that the Education Scam that deprived meritorious candidates of their jobs while those with political clout were appointed, is yet to be decided by the High Court, let us not assume that IN Meghalaya everything is alright with the MPSC and DSC. While the present Chairperson of the MPSC has tried to bring in several changes to make the system more transparent, there have been several allegations of wrongdoings by those who held this august post in the past. So when the MPSC is called to account its past misdemeanours cannot be brushed aside.
I am sure most job seekers here are keenly following the cash for job scam in Assam where the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) has been hung dry. Last week the Assam Police arrested 17 people who paid for their jobs, which included 11 officers from the Assam Civil Services (ACS) and Assam Police Service (APS). Amongst those arrested are relatives of ministers in the present BJP Government and also the son of a minister in the Congress Government of Tarun Gogoi. In fact a whistle blower from inside the Assam Police Department had brought to light the scam in its early stages. Rakesh Paul the APSC Chairman has accumulated unprecedented wealth and owned flats in Guwahati, Delhi and Bengaluru. But the police officer was instead transferred from his post by the Tarun Gogoi Government.
In March, 2015, the CBI wrote to the Assam Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Wing mentioning large scale manipulation in APSC’s recruitment process. The CBI alleged that Rakesh Paul the Chairman was collecting between Rs – 40 lakh from candidates, and had already amassed between Rs 20 crore to Rs 40 crore. Even then the State Government failed to act. Later, the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) leader Akhil Gogoi, approached the Gauhati High Court seeking enquiry into Paul’s alleged disproportionate wealth, and into APSC’s functioning. Thankfully Gogoi’s petition was accepted and the High Court recorded that among the candidates selected for the Assam Civil Service in 2013-14, was an ex-minister’s son, a minister’s son, a DIG’s son, two daughters of two MLAs, and two close relatives of two journalists. On October 15, 2015, the court ordered a CBI probe into Paul’s assets, and directed the state government to set up an inquiry headed by a retired High Court (HC)judge and go into the details of the functioning of the APSC. But a month later on November 21, Paul obtained a stay from the Supreme Court on the HC’s order. This stay gave him a respite until he was arrested on November 4, 2016.
It was the timely and strategic action of the Dibrugarh Police that led to the arrest of Nabakanta Patir a government engineer while he was collecting Rs 10 lakh from a dentist who had applied for a job in the APSC. Patir and two others, Basanta Kumar Doley and Samedur Rahman were engaged to send out feelers to candidates who were willing to pay money for a job. It was then that Rahman, Paul and Doley were arrested, and so were Rahman’s personal security officer and an assistant controller of exams in the APSC. By November 2016, altogether 11 people were arrested.
In June 2017, the Dibrugarh Additional SP, Surjit Singh Panesar seized the answer scripts of all 241 candidates who had been successful in the 2013 APSC exams, and gave a handwriting test to 25 candidates who had by then completed their training and taken up posts in the districts. What the police found was what they suspected. The handwriting samples did not match with the APSC exam answer scripts. Evidently each of these officers paid between Rs 15 and Rs 30 lakh for their jobs.
How Rakesh Paul ingratiated himself with the Tarun Gogoi government and how he managed to become the APSC Chairman is a story of political collusion at the highest levels. In 2008, during Tarun Gogoi’s second term, Paul was appointed member of the APSC. In 2013, he was appointed acting chairman and, within a few days he asked Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi to make him full-fledged Chairman. This appointment violated all moral and ethical considerations since Paul had 11 years of service (five years as member and six years as Chairman) thereby allowing him to manipulate his way through for all those 11 years. A senior official of the Personnel Department pointed out this irregularity but the warning was ignored and Paul was confirmed in December 2013.
Thankfully, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has acted quickly after his Government came to power in May 2016. Now police are compelled to act. They have seized 1212 answer sheets of candidates who were appointed in 2015 and 1080 of those appointed in 2016. This has happened because some people chose to blow the whistle. Does anyone in Meghalaya have such courage?
Ironically what happens instead is that when governments and those in it who head various institutions are called out for various acts of omission and commission they seek protection under the defamation clause of the law. The attempt is to prevent any further investigation by gagging the media.
Insofar as transparency is concerned the MPSC still hides behind archaic rules to get past the RTI Act 2005 in not allowing examinees to see their answer scripts. The MPSC website still has the following paragraph:
The Right to Information Act, 2005 came into force on 21st June, 2005 and its provision extend to all Public Authorities in the whole of India except the state of Jammu & Kashmir. The Meghalaya Public Service Commission being a public authority came under the purview of the Act. It may be seen that the Constitutional responsibilities entrusted upon Public Service Commissions are of such a nature that certain aspects of its work are necessary to be protected by the law/principle of “Non Disclosure”. In accordance with this principle the following items of records are never disclosed and treated as confidential records (Section 8 (1) (e) and 8 (1) (j) of the RTI Act, 2005.)
- Identity of Question Setters and Examiners.
- Evaluated Answer Scripts.
- Marks scored in the Written/Viva Voce Test, when not requested by a candidate to whom the records relate.
- Proceeding of Personal Interview.
- Such other kinds of informations which in the opinion of the Commission are likely to undermine its functioning and render the system unworkable.
This non-disclosure clause goes against a Supreme Court ruling of February 4, 2016. The apex court asked the Kerala Public Service Commission and Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission to disclose answer papers and marks tabulated during the oral interviews. The Court maintained that when a candidate is preparing for the best career option in the country, he needs to know how he performed in the exam and how his answer papers have been evaluated. ‘How will an exam conducting body establish transparency and accountability without disclosing answer papers and marks obtained?
In the same ruling the Supreme Court said: “So far as the information sought for by the respondents with regard to the supply of scanned copies of the answer sheets of the written test, copy of the tabulation sheet and other information, we are of the opinion that the view taken in the impugned judgment with regard to the disclosure of these information, does not suffer from error of law and the same is fully justified. Disclosing the marks and the answer sheets to the candidates will ensure that the candidates have been given marks according to their performance in the exam. This practice will ensure fair play in this competitive environment, where a candidate puts his time in preparing for the competitive exams,” the court observed.”
For a long time the civil service aspirants have desired that the exams be conducted in a transparent manner where every candidate knows what she/he scored and where she/he faltered. One hopes the MPSC and DSCs maintain the highest norms of transparency and fairness and reduce the opportunity for corruption in this very important area of employment in the government sector.