APPSC Paper Leak: Protesters demand cancellation of swearing-in of new APPSC chairman

ITANAGAR: Life in Arunachal Pradesh capital town came to a grinding halt on Friday in a dawn-to-dusk 'public' bandh called to press for the fulfillment of the 13-point charter of demands of the Pan Arunachal Joint Steering Committee-APPSC related to alleged leak of the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) question paper.

The bandh began at 5 am and thousands of people, including aggrieved aspirants and their parents, came out to the streets of the capital town in the early morning hour demanding cancellation of the scheduled swearing-in of the new APPSC chairman on Friday evening.

They damaged posters of President Droupadi Murmu, who is scheduled to arrive in the northeastern state on February 20 on a two-day visit. There were reports of injury to several protestors in lathi charges by the police. All top police officers are on the job and the situation though tense, is said to be under control.

In the capital town business establishments, markets, banks, educational institutions, government and private offices are closed and vehicles kept off the road due to the bandh.

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The Committee is demanding among others that all exams conducted by APPSC of which question papers were leaked be declared null and void, the immediate arrest of the former Commission's chairman, secretary, members and other officers, a court-monitored and Enforcement Directorate probe into the fiasco and immediate dismissal of state government officers involved in it.

It also demanded that the recruitment examination be henceforth conducted by the Union Public Service Commission, the report of the three-member committee on AE (Civil) paper leak be made public, the three state government officials posted under APPSC be recalled and all aggrieved candidates be given compensation of Rs five lakh each.

The state cabinet in an emergency meeting decided to call off the swearing-in of the APPSC chairman and its members, IGP (Law & Order) Chuku Appa said. It also decided that the matter will be discussed with all community-based organizations and stakeholders, he said.

The adamant protestors have, however, ruled out any further discussion and asked the state government to resolve their demands by 3 PM. The aggrieved aspirants had earlier written to Governor B D Mishra strongly objecting the appointment of the new APPSC chairman and members and requesting him to not go ahead with their oath-taking.

Mishra has been made the lieutenant governor of Ladakh and Lt Gen Kaiwalya Trivikram Parnaik was sworn-in as Arunachal Pradesh governor on Thursday. “The issue affects each and every Arunachali. We are handing it over to the people now, they people will decide what is to be done,” PAJSC-APPSC member Tadak Nalo said. The committee should not be blamed for anything that happened, he added. The state government has recommended a CBI probe into the alleged question paper leak and the central agency has begun investigations