New in the Northeast | Assam’s APSC job scam: From a commission to a committee

The commission’s findings are stated to detail irregularities in answer sheets of many “successful” candidates.

It’s been six years since the cash-for-jobs scam in Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) came to full public glare with several high-profile arrests, including then-chairman Rakesh Paul, on the charge of selling government jobs meant for the state civil and police services in exchange for money.

The new committee will decide whether the entire results of CCE 2013 should be set aside in view of the irregularities.  (HT File Photo)

But despite arrests and the termination from jobs of a few bureaucrats and police officers, the case, which is pending in the Gauhati High Court, is yet to come to a close. Last week, the Assam Cabinet approved the formation of a high-level committee to decide actions to be taken for irregularities committed in state civil service exams conducted by APSC in 2013.

The Cabinet decision followed the submission of a 700-page report by the Justice (retired) Biplab Kumar Sharma commission earlier this month on anomalies in the combined competitive examination (CCE), 2013, results of which were declared in May 2015.

The commission was formed by the state government following directions from the Gauhati High Court. Though the report is yet to be made public, the commission’s findings are stated to detail irregularities in answer sheets of many successful candidates.

While there were expectations that the state government would act on the commission’s report, the Cabinet decided to forward it to a new committee comprising chief secretary Jishnu Barua, additional chief secretary Paban Borthakur, DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, and principal secretary (personnel) Niraj Verma with directions to submit its report within two months.

The new committee will decide whether the entire results of CCE 2013 should be set aside in view of the irregularities like an increase of marks of candidates, changes in answer scripts, and even the complete absence of answer scripts. It will also decide whether action would be uniform or graded, depending on the nature of the irregularity.

The Cabinet also decided to form a separate commission of inquiry under a retired high court judge to probe alleged irregularities in CCE 2014. To date, 39 officers from the 2013 batch found guilty of securing jobs by paying money have been terminated from service and Paul, kingpin of the racket, is still behind bars.

In Assam, there were rumours for decades that jobs secured through APSC were not done fairly. But the issue found credibility in December 2013, following a report accusing Paul of running the job market.

The report filed by a superintendent of police in the vigilance and anti-corruption wing was not acted on by the state government and Paul continued to be at the helm. In March 2015, the vigilance and anti-corruption wing received a letter from Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alleging that Paul was collecting large sums from candidates and had amassed property anywhere between ₹20 to ₹40 crore. The Congress government of Tarun Gogoi still didn’t act.

The same year in October, following a petition by former Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) leader Akhil Gogoi, the Gauhati High Court ordered a CBI inquiry into Paul’s assets and directed the state government to set up an inquiry headed by a retired HC judge to probe functioning of APSC. However, Paul approached the Supreme Court and got a stay order.

Things started moving in October 2016 following the arrest of a government engineer who was allegedly engaged by Paul and two other APSC members Basanta Kumar Doley and Samedur Rahman to collect money from candidates who were willing to “buy their jobs”. The engineer had contacted a dentist and promised her a government job if she paid ₹10 lakh.

By this time the Congress government had made way for a BJP-led regime headed by Sarbananda Sonowal. Following the arrest of the engineer and his revelations, Paul, Doley, Rahman and several others were arrested in October-November, 2016. In June 2017, police seized answer sheets of all 241 candidates who had cleared the CCE, 2013.

A handwriting test of 25 of them, who were by them posted in various parts of the state, revealed that their answers were written by someone else and that they had paid sums ranging from ₹15 to ₹30 lakh to Paul and others to secure jobs. Fourteen other successful candidates from the same batch were later found to have used dubious means to get jobs.

In February 2020, the Sonowal government formed the one-man-inquiry commission of Justice (retired) Biplab Kumar Sharma to probe the APSC scam and in April this year, it submitted its report to the new BJP-led government headed by Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Now, everyone will have to wait for reports by the new committee and commission to see how it unfolds in the coming days.