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2004 HCS selections: Four serving HCS officers among 27 arraigned as accused by anti-graft bureau
The ACB officials said that 102 candidates were selected during HCS and Allied Services (executive branch) Examination 2004 and the whole selection process was marred by large scale manipulation in the written and interviews
: A total of 27 persons, including four serving Haryana Civil Service (HCS) officers, have been arraigned as accused by the state anti-corruption bureau in a supplementary chargesheet pertaining to alleged irregularities and malpractices committed by the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) in the recruitment process of 2004 HCS and Allied Services (executive branch) Examination during the regime of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD).
They are Jaiveer Yadav, Sanjeev Kumar, Ved Prakash and Inderjit. A Haryana Police Service (HPS) officer, Ashok Kumar, has also been named as an accused.
Six successful candidates who did not accept appointment letters – Mahinder Singh (HCS), Ramesh Kumar and Anuj Mahajan (HPS), Pawan Kumar, Sunil Singh and Neeraj Kumar (Allied Services) – have also been arraigned as accused in the ACB chargesheet submitted in the court of Hisar sessions judge, Dinesh Mittal.
Seven former HPSC functionaries - Dungar Ram, Chattar Singh, Yudhvir Singh, Satbir Singh, Ranbir Singh Hooda, Santosh Singh, who is the wife of former HPSC chairman KC Bangar, Om Prakash Bishnoi, who presided over the 2004 selections and former IAS officer, Hardeep Singh who was secretary when the exams were conducted, were also arraigned as accused.
The ACB officials said that eight paper checkers or examiners – Prof JC Kappan, Prof Noor Mohammad, Dr Girishwar Mishra, Prof DP Singh, Prof Jagdish Singh, Dr KD Pandey, Prof V Chander Mauli and Prof Ramesh Chander Sharma, have also been named in the supplementary chargesheet filed in the Hisar court.
The FIR was registered against them under sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B of the IPC and section 13(1)(d) read with 13(2) of PC Act, 1988 in 2005.
“To prosecute these eight examiners, sanction for prosecution has been obtained from the office of the secretary HPSC on February 8 this year,” the official said.
The anti-corruption bureau didn’t need to take prosecution sanction for eleven officers as they were private individuals when they appeared for the controversial exam.
The ACB officials said that 102 candidates were selected during HCS and Allied Services (executive branch) Examination 2004 and the whole selection process was marred by large scale manipulation in the written and interviews.
“Eleven candidates were given undue benefit by increasing marks in the written or awarded disproportionately high marks in interviews or both. While seven candidates are those who have been caused undue loss by decreasing their marks either in answer sheets or awarding very less marks in interviews,” the officials added.
The official said the functionaries misused their official position in the selection process.
“On the basis of records obtained and witnesses examined, 292 candidates were selected for the interview in the HCS and Allied Services (executive branch) examination 2004. The director of higher education department on March 12, 2009 formed a team of three professors from government college, Panchkula to inspect the answer copies of 292 candidates, who were selected for interview and irregularities were found in 167 candidates’ sheets by a way of over writing, cutting in marks, increase or decrease in marks, different inks/ pens used, pages left blank and thereafter remaining questions were solved against instruction and still examiners awarded them marks,” the official added.
The officials further said that 88 answer books were sent to forensic science laboratory in Madhuban and in a report on July 18, 2011, large scale tempering were found in marks by cutting/overwriting.
“The then HPSC secretary Hardeep Singh personally took the answer sheets to the examiners in which irregularities were found. He marked the fictitious roll number (in place of roll number of candidates) by applying a simple scheme of coding,” the officials added.
Moreover, the answer sheets of 22 selected candidates/petitioners and those of 38 selected candidates who were offered appointment in 2016, were inspected in which irregularities were found in the answer sheets of 47 candidates.
According to the supplementary chargesheet filed by ACB , a candidate named Pawan Kumar, who was selected as excise and taxation officer got 283 marks out of 600 in written exam and he scored 70 marks out of 75 in interview. He attempted a wrong answer of a question and despite that, he has been awarded 3 full marks by the examiner. If these three marks had not been given, he would not have been eligible for an interview.
In the case of Sanjeev Kumar, who was selected as HCS officer, 14.5 marks have been increased in the answer books of Psychology and Geography by examiners – Girishwar Mishra and Jagdish Singh. If these marks had not been increased, this candidate would not have been selected for any post.
Seven candidates are such in whose answer sheets marks have been cut or awarded lower marks in interview and undue loss has been caused by HPSC, secretary and examiners to select their favourite ones at higher posts and they have been selected at lower posts, otherwise they have would have been selected as HCS officers, the chargesheet added.
“A candidate Pankaj Dixit, who scored 339 out of 600 in written, was given only 19 marks out of 75 in the interview. He was selected as ETO and if he was given two more marks in interview, he would have been selected as HCS officer. Another candidate Mahabir, who was selected as BDPO, had been given 24 marks in interview and if he was awarded 4 more marks in the interview, he would have been selected as HCS,” the supplementary chargesheet filed by ACB reads.
