Amid the raging row over the HPSC recruitment scam in which the opposition has demanded an independent inquiry, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday rejected the demand while assuring the State Assembly that the accused in the case will not be spared.
“An independent and impartial investigation is already underway in the matter by Vigilance Bureau. If the opposition has any information related to discrepancy in competitive examinations, then they should also give it to the State Vigilance Bureau or the court so that immediate action can be taken and no one will be spared,” the Chief Minister said while responding to an adjournment motion over malfeasance in public employment in Haryana unearthed by State Vigilance Bureau in Haryana Public Service Commission and Haryana Staff Selection Commission etc.
Right through the beginning of the discussion which lasted for more than three hours during adjournment motion, war of words was witnessed between the treasury benches and the opposition in the House with Congress legislators and INLD’s lone MLA pushing for an independent inquiry under the supervision of sitting judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court.
On two separate occasions, the Congress legislators even trooped into the Well of the House in protest during the discussion.
Last month, Anil Nagar, who was Deputy Secretary HPSC was arrested along with two others by the Haryana Vigilance Bureau for their alleged roles in manipulating the recruitment of dental surgeons by taking bribes from them for enhancing their marks in the written test for the purpose. Nagar, an HCS officer was dismissed by the State Government earlier this month.
Speaking on the issue in the House, former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda demanded an inquiry into HPSC recruitment scam by Central Bureau of Investigation under the supervision of sitting HC judge.
Hooda also read out an alleged conversation between HPSC chairman and Anil Nagar over favoring certain candidates in the recruitments.
Following this, the Chief Minister asked Hooda to submit the alleged conversation for investigation.
Congress MLA Kiran Chaudhary while moving the adjournment motion raised questions on creation of Deputy Secretary post in HPSC, assigning the duty of competitive exams to Anil Nagar and non-cancellation of exams conducted under his supervision. INLD’s lone MLA Abhay Chautala raised questions on repeated paper leak and scams in HPSC and HSSC demanding an inquiry under the sitting HC judge.
During the discussion, BJP MLA Harvinder Kalyan demanded white paper on recruitments done before 2014 and during BJP government to showcase the data of how many relatives of Ministers, MLAs, MPs have been given jobs through HPSC and HSSC in the state.
Congress legislators BB Batra, Raghuvir Singh Kadiyan, Geeta Bhukkal, Jagbir Singh Malik, Shamsher Singh Gogi among other also spoke during the discussion demanding dissolving HPSC, HSSC till the inquiry is completed, investigation into the role of HPSC chairman and certain candidates appearing in dental surgeon exam among other issues.
Responding to the allegations of opposition, the Chief Minister said Haryana Public Service Commission is an autonomous body and the Government has no role in its functioning.
Khattar said that the post of Deputy Secretary in HPSC was created with effect from February 21, 2014 by the then Congress Government and since then HCS officers have been appointed by the Government to this post. The post was regularized in June 2021 by our government, he said. On the allegations why confidential work related to recruitments was assigned to Deputy Secretary instead of Secretary, the Chief Minister said, “The confidential work related to the recruitment of HCS and other allied services 2021 and Dental Surgeon 2021 was entrusted to the then Deputy Secretary Anil Nagar. The confidential work relating to the above recruitments was not assigned to the HPSC Secretary as his family members were the candidates in these recruitments and he had requested that in the interest of transparency and fairness, confidential work should not be assigned to him.”
Khattar went onto say that due to the misdeeds of one person the entire system cannot be blamed and those suspected will be rounded up. Haryana Government has recruited people to 84,000 posts in a transparent manner and on merit basis, he said.
The investigation so far has not revealed whether the guilty have been able to falsify the HCS preliminary examination conducted by the HPSC and any other examination other than the Dental Surgeon examination. Further investigation is proceeding in the HPSC case, he added.
On why private agencies are being hired for conducting competitive exams, Khattar said that this process has been going on since 2014. Other public service commissions, recruitment agencies and universities are also taking such services from outside agencies for exams, he said.
On allegations of OMR sheets left blank by the candidates, the Chief Minister said HSSC itself has prepared a list of OMR sheets left blank by the candidates in the examinations conducted during the period from July 16, 2021 to September 26, 2021 and this list was sent to the Director General of Police to inquire into the matter and to identify the persons who were misleading the candidates to keep the OMR sheet blank without solving the questions.
Attacking the opposition, Khattar further said that many recruitments in the previous governments were also cancelled by the High Court.
About the status of ongoing investigation into HPSC job scam, the Chief Minister informed the House that the three accused namely Anil Nagar, Ashwini Sharma and Naveen Kumar arrested by the State Vigilance Bureau were produced before the court on November 23 and remanded to judicial custody. Other officers including the chairman and secretary of HPSC are being regularly involved in the investigation.
The OMR sheets and digital media received from HPSC have been sent to Criminology Laboratory for forensic examination.
And, a total of Rs 3.5 crore cash has been recovered in the investigation process so far, he said.
Apart from this, notices have been sent to the suspected candidates and some of them have joined the investigation.
Other suspected candidates are also in the process of joining the probe to ascertain their role and assess the extent of their involvement, he added.
The Chief Minister further said that the investigation is going on in the right direction and we have faith in our investigating agency.