SAD seeks CBI probe into multi-crore Naib Tehsildar recruitment scam
Chandigarh, November 16: Former minister and senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia on Wednesday sought a CBI probe or a judicial inquiry monitored by a sitting judge of the high court to unmask the multi-crore Naib Tehsildar recruitment scam conducted by the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) following the arrest of few low-level accomplices after the emergence of wrongdoing in the examination process.
Bikram Majithia said, “preliminary evidence collected by the Vigilance Bureau indicates there was a larger conspiracy both within the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government as well as PPSC to ensure the selection of candidates from two examination centres of Moonak and Patran. Since these examination centres are from CM Bhagwant Mann’s home district, the Vigilance department will not be able to probe the involvement of persons in the top echelons of the AAP government as well as the PPSC which virulently defended the selection process. Only an independent probe can ensure the unmasking of the king-pins of this scam and their due punishment”.
Asking the chief minister to hand over the investigation into the scam to the CBI or a sitting judge of the high court, Majithia said, “70,000 candidates who sat for the paper want a transparent probe and will not be satisfied by an eye wash which targets low-level accomplices”.
The Akali leader also demanded the immediate scrapping of the entire recruitment process conducted for the Naib Tehsildar examination. He also demanded probing of the role of staff who had facilitated the examination so that political bosses who had given them orders to indulge in this wrongdoing could be identified and punished appropriately. Majithia also demanded that all other examinations which were under a cloud including that for Veterinary Officers and Inspectors of Cooperative Societies should be conducted afresh in a transparent manner.
Mr Majithia also asked AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal to explain what ‘badlav’ he was preaching in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. “Kejriwal has been campaigning in Gujarat that recruitment papers have been leaked in the State while in Punjab the rot in the examination system is even more with GSM devices with Sim cards and Bluetooth earplugs being provided to chosen candidates so that they could attempt questions whose answers were relayed the answers to them by experts. This led to the selection of candidates who had earlier failed papers held to conduct Patwaris and even sweepers”, he added.
The SAD leader assured affected students that the party would not allow the government to cover up the scam. “The SAD was the first to express solidarity with the affected candidates on October 10 when the scam surfaced and will continue to assist them to secure justice in the case”, he added.
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