Prayagraj, July 07: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has suddenly intensified the investigation of UP Public Service Commission Prayagraj’s recruitment examinations from 2012 to 2016 by two days.
A dozen selected candidates of Additional Private Secretary (APS)-2010 were summoned on Saturday at the CBI camp office located in Govindpur Irrigation Department Colony. The selected candidates working in different offices were interrogated for hours. Another four-member team of CBI remained in the commission till late evening.
Apart from APS-2010, documents were scrutinized to catch the irregularities in the recruitments of RO-ARO-2013, Lower-2013 and Uttar Pradesh Provincial Judicial Service-2014, Medical Officer Examination-2014.
On July 20, 2017, the Yogi government of the state had announced to conduct the investigation of all the recruitment examinations and results of Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission from 2012 to 2016 through the CBI.
In this regard, the Central Government had issued a notification on 21 November 2017. CBI has to investigate about 598 recruitment examinations and results. In this, about 40 thousand selected are being affected.
The CBI registered an unknown FIR in PCS 2015 on May 5, 2018. PE was registered in APS-2010 Vacancy in February 2019. After this, in July 2020, PE was registered in RO-ARO-2013, Lower-2013 and Uttar Pradesh Provincial Judicial Service-2014, Medical Officer Examination-2014.
Avneesh Pandey, president of Competitive Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti, who advocated the CBI investigation, has also filed a petition in the Allahabad High Court. Here, on August 6, the CBI has intensified the investigation by registering an FIR against the then Controller of Examinations IAS Prabhunath in Delhi under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, conspiracy, cheating and forgery on charges of rigging the APS-2010 recruitment.
Checking the details entered in the computer
The CBI team has probed the details recorded in the computer regarding the recruitment of APS-2010, Uttar Pradesh Provincial Judicial Service-2014, and Medical Officer Examination-2014 etc. in the Public Service Commission. Apart from this, the numbers were matched by taking out the copies of the candidates and verification of certificates and mark sheets.
Appointment given amid CBI investigation
UP Public Service Commission Prayagraj first released the result of Additional Private Secretary (APS)-2010 despite complaints of irregularities in recruitment. After this, the process of appointing the selected in the middle of the CBI investigation was also completed. Due to this, 222 selected are working in the UP Secretariat, while the appointment of 28 selected has been stopped due to the ban by the Allahabad High Court. Had the court not stopped, they too would have got the appointment.
The Public Service Commission had recruited 250 posts under APS 2010. The CBI, which was investigating the recruitment, had found many flaws.
Despite this, the process of giving appointment to the selected was started in November 2019. The process of giving appointment continued till 2020. Competitors demanding a CBI inquiry on this rallied against the commission.
A complaint was made to the senior officers of the CBI including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, demanding cancellation of the appointment.
Accused of influencing the investigation on the former chairman of the commission
Avnish Kumar Pandey, president of Competitive Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti, who demanded a CBI inquiry, has accused the former chairman of the Public Service Commission and an officer currently working in the CBI investigation and said that in the recruitment of APS 2010, despite the registration of FIR by the CBI, efforts were made to save the accused officers and employees.
The CBI investigation was hampered due to non-delivery of required documents. Said that the CBI had requested the government in December 2020 to approve the prosecution against the commission’s officers and employees from the then Controller of Examinations and the commission, but the former chairman and officer of the commission refused to sanction prosecution to save the commission’s personnel.
The grounds for not granting prosecution sanction were taken that an SLP is pending in the Supreme Court regarding this recruitment, due to which it is not possible to grant prosecution sanction.
The Commission sent the same replies to the Government in the case of the then Controller of Examinations (CoE), but the Government, finding this basis of the Commission to be baseless, sent the prosecution sanction against the Controller of Examinations to the CBI.
After this, the CBI has registered a case in the matter. The refusal to grant sanction to the prosecution resulted in the CBI registering an unknown FIR even after the commission personnel who had committed the scam were identified. Apart from this, there has also been an unnecessary delay of seven months in registering the case.
