Assam Govt suspends 21 officers in APSC 'cash for job' scam

GUWAHATI: The Assam government has suspended 21 state civil, police and allied service officers for their alleged involvement in the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) 'cash for job' scam, official sources said on Friday.

Out of the 21 officers placed under suspension through orders issued on Thursday, 11 are from the Assam Police Service (APS), four from the Assam Civil Services (ASC), three assistant employment officers, two assistant registrar of cooperative societies and one excise inspector.

Of these, two APS officers had been arrested in the case last week, while summons to appear before a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state police, which is probing the case, have been issued to several others, the sources said. The suspension notification issued by the personnel department said these officers were beneficiaries of the "anomalies and malpractices carried out by the APSC" and they got appointment by "enhancement" of their originally scored marks in the final tabulation sheet based on which the final results were declared.

It said the recommendation of the APSC for recruitment of these officers was "illegal" and the process through which they obtained their jobs "amount to gross misconduct, corruption and moral turpitude".

As they are under investigation for criminal offence, allowing them to continue in their present post "may not be in the interest of public service and may cause embarrassment to the government", it said. In view of it, the officers have been placed under suspension with immediate effect, the notification said.

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The findings were reported in the one-man Justice (Retd) BK Sarma commission. According to the notification, "anomalies and malpractices resorted to for the selection of candidates in exchange of money and other extraneous consideration by the APSC headed by the then chairman Shri Rakesh Kumar Paul while conducting the Combined Competitive Examination, 2013/ 2014".

In the scam which came to light in 2016, nearly 70 persons, including Paul and over 50 civil and police services officials, have been arrested. Paul was arrested by Dibrugarh police in November 2016 and released on bail in March this year. The chief minister had directed the director general of police (DGP) to constitute a SIT in September this year to further investigate the scam.

The SIT, headed by additional DGP (CID) Munna Prasad Gupta, is conducting the probe now and has been directed to submit its report within six months to the Gauhati High Court in a sealed envelope. The Chief Minister's Office (CMO) had said last month that the state government has already initiated departmental proceedings against 34 tainted officials of the 2013 batch whose names were mentioned in the Justice (Retd) B K Sarma Committee report.

Similarly, action has been initiated against those candidates of the 2014 batch who were allegedly selected by unfair means with their marks changed during the tabulation process.