Cash-For-Job Scam Report Placed In Assam Assembly, BJP Targets Congress

A commission looking into alleged scams in the Assam Public Service Commission's (APSC) Combined Competitive Examination has submitted reports, which were discussed in the state assembly.

The Justice (retired) BK Sharma Commission while probing into the alleged irregularities in the APSC Combined Competitive Examination said former chairman Rakesh Paul was associated in 200 selections and the kind of conduct on his part in holding the exam leaves no manner of doubt that Mr Paul was associated with illegalities not only in respect of the two examinations, but also in other examinations.

Two reports of the commission into alleged irregularities in the APSC Combined Competitive Examinations (CCE) for 2013 and 2014 were tabled in the assembly by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during the first day of the budget session in Kokrajhar on Monday.

The report said marks were enhanced, and fake answer scripts were made. Some 70 people, including Mr Paul, and over 50 civil and police officials have been arrested in the cash-for-job scam, which was uncovered in 2016.

"With that kind of situation, what was in store both for APSC selection and deserving candidates could well be imagined. The all-round illegality perpetuated in conducting CCE 2013 and 2014 with wholesome compromise of the basic tenets of selection on merit reducing the APSC to a private guild and an entity of job for extraneous consideration, be it monetary or others," the commission said.

The commission said Mr Paul could not have made the illegal selections possible unless there were extending and supporting hands for him. Call details of Mr Paul and the other accused showed that "high dignitaries" including police personnel were in touch with them.

"While it is true that merely on the basis of such calls nothing can be attributed negatively and that by itself may not establish any link with the illegal selections, but the timing of such calls including the fact that in the normal circumstances, such calls are not expected of to and from the key personnel of APSC, gives rise to suspicion making it a matter to ponder about," the report said.

It said while the services of some illegal appointees have been dispensed with, many more are still in the administration occupying high and key positions.

"As to what could be the state of affairs with such illegal appointees can well be imagined. With their illegal presence in service, not only the administration and for that matter, the public will suffer, but it will carry a very wrong message towards compromising the merit and performance of deserving candidates," the report said.

Last year, the court of special judge at Guwahati pronounced the verdict for convicts in the APSC cash-for-job scam. Mr Paul was jailed for 14 years and was fined Rs 2 lakh.

Former APSC members Basanta Kumar Doley and Samedur Rahman were sentenced to 10-year jail terms.

At least 29 candidates who paid for Agricultural Development Officer (ADO) jobs in 2014 were jailed for four years and fined Rs 10,000 each.

Mr Paul was arrested by Dibrugarh police in November 2016 and released on bail in March 2023.

"The report submitted by the commission on corruption in the Assam Public Service Commission has thoroughly exposed the neck-deep corruption and misdeeds committed by the Congress regime headed by former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi," Assam BJP chief Dilip Saikia said.

"The act of pushing a generation to the abyss of darkness and meting out grave injustice to meritorious and deserving candidates by opening a market for jobs by the then government has been brought to the fore by the report," Mr Saikia said.

He said the report brought out startling disclosures on the former chief minister and his son Gaurav Gogoi, and proved that corruption and Congress are two sides of the same coin.

The BJP demanded that the Congress must bring out a white paper on the mega scam during its rule and clarify its position to the people of Assam.