E-Paper
Prez gives sanction to prosecute former Haryana service commission chief, 13 ex-members
They are accused of misusing their official position in examinations conducted by the commission during the INLD rule when former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala was at the helm in Haryana
President Droupadi Murmu has accorded sanction to prosecute former Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) chairperson KC Bangar and 13 former members of the commission under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
It is alleged that they misused their official position in examinations conducted by the HPSC during the INLD rule when former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala was at the helm in Haryana.
Bangar has since then shifted loyalties and joined Haryana deputy CM Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) and was in May 2022 appointed as adviser, climate change, in the Haryana environment department.
The 13 former HPSC members for whom sanction for prosecution has been granted are MS Shastri, Pardeep Chaudhary (a Congress MLA now), Dayal Singh, Narender Vidyalanakar, Jagdish Rai, NN Yadav, Dungar Ram, Chatter Singh, Yudhvir Singh, Satbir Singh, Ranbir Hooda, OP Bishnoi and Santosh Singh, wife of KC Bangar.
The Haryana government had on December 14, 2022, sent a request to issue sanction for prosecution against the former chairperson and members for misuse of their official position in conduct of 2001 and 2004 Haryana Civil Services (executive branch) and allied services exams, and selections of assistant professors and lecturers in Chaudhary Devi Lal Memorial Engineering College, Panniwala Mota, Sirsa, on the basis of investigations done by the state vigilance bureau (now called anti-corruption bureau) in an FIR registered at the vigilance bureau police station in Hisar on October 18, 2005.
The FIR was registered under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and Sections 7 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, against the former chairperson and members.
The President’s sanction was communicated by the Union personnel ministry to the Haryana government on June 7. It said perusal of vigilance bureau records revealed that these former HPSC functionaries showed undue favour for illegal gratification and committed irregularities resulting in selection of ineligible candidates.
“The President, after examining the material before her, including a copy of the FIR, investigations and forensic reports and other relevant documents has come to the conclusion that prima facie, a case for alleged offence under Sections 7 (offence related to public servant being bribed and 13 (2) (criminal misconduct by a public servant) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and various sections of the IPC is made out against the above named persons.
“The President, hereby, accords sanction for prosecution under Section 19 (1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, against these former HPSC functionaries in the court of law,” the sanction order reads.
