Guwahati, Oct 2 (IANS) The Assam government will make public the findings by a committee regarding the "huge corruption and malpractices" that happened in competitive examinations conducted by Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) during the previous Congress regime in the state, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Tuesday.
The decision was taken during a Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday.
An official release mentioned: "One Man Inquiry Commission headed by Justice (Retd) B.K Sarma was set up to inquire into the allegations and malpractices in the conduct of Combined Competitive Examinations (CCE) 2013 and CCE 2014 by Assam Public Service Commission. The Committees submitted its reports and pointed out glaring anomalies and malpractices resorted to by the beneficiaries and the perpetrators in conduct of CCE-2013 by APSC which was beyond imagination."
"In the larger public interest, the Cabinet has approved making the findings of the report public and to be placed in the Assam Legislative Assembly to inform the people of Assam on the extent of corruption and malpractices that were prevalent in APSC during the previous dispensation," the statement further mentioned.
The Assam Civil Service (ACS) and Assam Police Service (APS) officers who appeared in the Combined Competitive Examination 2013 were among the successful candidates who allegedly engaged in irregular practices in collusion with Rakesh Kumar Paul, the APSC chairman at the time. This led to the revelation of the APSC cash-for-job scam in 2016.
Earlier, the Assam government set up a high-level committee to decide on the action to be taken in view of the irregularities in the 2013 exam.
Paul was lodged in jail for more than six years and he was released on bail March 2023.
Meanwhile, in July this year, a Special Court convicted former chairman of Assam Public Service Commission (APCS) Paul and two ex-members in the 2015 cash-for-jobs scam linked to the recruitment of Agriculture Development Officers (ADOs) in the state.
Notably, Rakesh Kumar Paul was appointed chairman of APSC by the erstwhile Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government in the state.
The BJP, since it came to power in Assam in 2016, targeted the Congress on the issue of alleged large-scale malpractices and corruption under Paul’s tenure as chairman of APSC.
--IANS
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