Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the irregularities in the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission were the ‘sin’ of Samajwadi Party regime and the Bharatiya Janata Party government had taken up the job of purging the system so that youths could get government jobs in a transparent manner.
“We will not let anyone play with law. We have made it clear to the heads of all the Commissions that there should be transparency in competitive examinations. We want to assure the youths of the state that people who try to play with their future will be put behind bars,” Yogi said in a statement issued here on Sunday.
The Chief Minister was reacting to the recruitment scam in UPPSC due to which several recruitment examinations, including those of UP combined state/upper subordinate services, assistant conservator of forest (SCF) and range forest officer (RFO), programmers and others were cancelled.
The UPPSC in a recent notice said “the exams notified under half-yearly calender (July to December 2019) stand cancelled”. The notification added, “A revised calendar will be released by the Commission.”
As many as 10 recruitment exams have been cancelled.
“The government was getting complaints about recruitment in UPPSC. The case has been handed over to the CBI because we will not allow anyone to play with the future of youths. This is our commitment to the youths and I reiterate that whosoever will play with the future of the youths will be penalised,” Yogi said.
The alleged irregularities in the UPPSC started with the appointment of Anil Yadav as its chairman. His tenure, from 2013 till his removal by the Allahabad High Court in 2015, was marred by controversies.
He had on May 27, 2013, passed a proposal for implementation of three-tier reservation policy. As per the new policy, quota had to be implemented in all the stages of exams — preliminary, mains and interview — instead of final list of selected candidates.
“There were reports of fraud in UPPSC. A blacklisted firm was given the responsibility to print question paper. We got report of the nexus between the examination controller of UPPSC and the said firm. Raids were conducted and the printer and the examination controller were arrested,” Yogi said.
The arrest of UPPSC examination controller Anju Katiyar on charges of corruption in the paper leak case and postponement of 10 recruitment examinations scheduled till December-end have dented the credibility of the Commission already facing CBI probe over allegations of irregularities in exams conducted from 2012 to 2017.
The Chief Minister said that the government only prepared the guidelines and it was the responsibility of the officials to implement them.
“I have made it clear to the bureaucracy that we will work on zero tolerance. Corruption has taken an organised shape in UP in the last 15 years. We will root it out but it is a time consuming process,” Yogi said.
“Whatever the examination be – of education board or public service recruitment examination – this government will ensure transparency at all stages,” Yogi said.