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Himachal recruitment: HPSSC clerks, drivers, peons sold papers to relatives
Interim report of vigilance probe into junior office assistant (IT) recruitment exam finds employees of now-disbanded Himachal Pradesh Staff Selection Commission made mockery of job selections for three years, putting careers of hundreds of aspirants in limbo
For three years, clerks, drivers and peons of the now-disbanded Himachal Pradesh Staff Selection Commission (HPSSC), Hamirpur, were hand in glove with kingpin Uma Azad, a senior superintendent in the secrecy branch, and leaked question papers for recruitment exams to close relatives for monetary gains. Preliminary investigation has found one of the clerks has 50 bank accounts.
These revelations are a part of the Himachal Pradesh State Anti-Corruption and Vigilance Bureau interim report on the recruitment exam for posts of junior office assistant (information and technology) held in December. The report was submitted to the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government last week and the chargesheet is expected to be filed by February 21.
“We have submitted an interim report on the progress of investigation and will be filing the chargesheet against those involved shortly,” additional director general of police, State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, Satwant Atwal Trivedi said.
What the probe found
The investigation has found the involvement of office staff, including drivers and peons, in a majority of cases. The office staff leaked the question papers to close relatives in exchange for money. In the majority of cases, the money transaction was in cash.
The two-page interim report says that so far 60 people have been questioned and the police are scrutinising their bank accounts. One of the officials, a clerk, has 50 bank accounts, it has found. The probe team has confiscated 24 mobile phones that have been sent for forensic examination, three laptops and a desktop.
The team has, however, not found any evidence of an inter-state gang’s involvement so far.
How scam came to light
In the third week of December last year, an aspirant lodged a complaint with the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, Hamirpur, that he had been contacted with an offer that he would be provided a solved question paper for the recruitment exam of junior office assistant-IT (JAO-IT) if he paid ₹2.5 lakh. The exam was to be held on December 25. After substantiating the claims, the vigilance team laid a trap. The agent, identified as Sanjeev Sharma, again contacted the complainant on December 23 and asked him to meet him at a pre-decided location. The vigilance team was on their trail.
The agent took the complainant to kingpin Uma Azad, the senior superintendent at HPSSC. As the deal was being struck, the team raided the house and caught Uma, her son Nikhil Azad, servant Neeraj, agent Sanjeev Sharma and two candidates red-handed with the question paper. The candidates had paid them ₹5,000 in advance.
The JOA (IT) exam was cancelled.
During a search, the police found ₹7 lakh, incriminating evidence and question papers of two more recruitment exams scheduled in early January.
Eight people have been arrested so far in the case. Of them, four are out on bail and four are in police custody.
The vigilance formed a special investigation team (SIT) as more complaints of irregularities in the exams held earlier poured in.
Recruitments on hold
Sukhu had disbanded the HPSSC on December 26 last year and ordered the probe soon after taking charge. All ongoing and pending recruitments through the commission have been kept in abeyance till further orders.
HPSSC secretary Jitender Kumar and deputy secretary Sanjeev Kumar were relieved of their duties pending investigation and all exams that were to be conducted with them at the helm besides the results of which were to be declared were put on hold. The additional deputy commissioner, Hamirpur, was appointed officer on special duty at the commission.
The development has led to an indefinite delay in holding 70 screening tests, affecting lakhs of job aspirants. Six exams were scheduled in the first week of January alone. The post-exam document verification was pending in some cases and in others only the result had to be declared.
The recruitment for 4,147 posts in various departments now hangs in balance.
Earlier, the recruitment process had remained suspended for one-and-a-half years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Besides, hiring in some cases is pending in courts. There are 2,500 posts of JOA (IT) lying vacant in the state. In 2020-21, applications were invited and screening exams were held for 1,867 posts and for 300 posts in 2021-22 but the appointments were delayed due to cases pending in the Supreme Court.
3 lakh took recruitment exams
The HPSSC had invited applications for 79 screening exams for 467 posts of junior basic teacher (JBT), 360 posts of conductor in the Himachal Road Transport Corporation, 162 posts of operation theatre (OT) assistant in the health department, 28 posts of police sub inspector, 79 posts of firemen, 78 posts of junior engineer in the electricity board among others.
This is not the first time that the HPSSC is embroiled in a controversy. When SM Katwal was at the helm, recruitments were done through the commission in 2001-02. During the BJP rule in the state, there were allegations of irregularities in recruitments. In 2004, then chief minister Virbhadra Singh ordered an inquiry. The vigilance registered a case and presented the challan in court.
The Hamirpur sessions court sentenced then chairman Katwal and selection board member Dr Vidya Nath, and two government school teachers Rakesh Chhabra and Madan Gopal in the case. They moved the high court and were sentenced to one-year imprisonment and fined ₹5,000 each. They appealed to the Supreme Court that upheld the high court order.
Board member Dr Vidya Nath and the two government school teachers were arrested by the vigilance and jailed. Katwal too surrendered before the court in 2018.
Paper leak: Story so far
December 23, 2022: Himachal Pradesh State Anti-Corruption and Vigilance Bureau team arrests six people, including HPSSC senior superintendent, for leaking JOA (IT) recruitment exam question paper. The exam is cancelled.
December 24: Question papers of two more screening exams for the post of computer operator and junior auditor recovered during subsequent searches.
December 26: Government suspends HPSSC. Vigilance Bureau forms SIT to probe allegations of paper leak in past recruitment exams.
December 31: Two more arrested in paper leak case.
February 2023: Vigilance submits interim report to the government, 60% exam in which irregularities were alleged found to be leaked.
