BJP blasts Congress government in Himachal for dissolving Staff Selection Commission, demands review

SHIMLA: The BJP on Wednesday slammed the Congress government for dissolving the Himachal Pradesh Staff Selection Commission over paper leak cases, saying the decision would further delay recruitment exam results and also adversely affect HPSSC staff. Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh SSC staff found its gate locked when they went to the office on Wednesday morning, even though the vigilance department said they didn't close the offices.

"We don't know who put up the lock there. Only security staff was posted there on duty," a senior vigilance official said. BJP leaders including former chief ministers Prem Kumar Dhumal and Jai Ram Thakur, and state party chief Suresh Kashyap disapproved of the government's decision to dissolve the commission, headquartered in Hamirpur. "The government should have improved the working of the commission but it opted to scrap it," Kashyap said, calling the decision "unfortunate".

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Congress leader and Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu announced the dissolution of the commission on Tuesday, saying departmental inquiry and vigilance bureau reports into allegations of paper leaks pointed out irregularities. The reports also indicated that papers were being leaked and sold to selective people for the past three years, he had said on Tuesday. He said complaints were also received regarding the papers held recently by the HPSSC.

He had also announced that the ongoing recruitment process at the HPSSC has been transferred to Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (HPPSC), Shimla, till further alternative arrangements are made or a testing agency is constituted. Former chief minister Dhumal, under whose regime the Hamirpur-based HPSSC was created, termed the dissolution anti-people in general and anti-youth in particular. He said his government had set up the commission in 1998 to decentralise and speed up the selection process for class III and IV employees.

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Dhumal said that dissolving the commission would cause inconvenience to candidates. It would take two days for a person to reach Shimla from interior areas of Chamba, Kullu and Lahaul and Spiti districts. Women candidates would suffer the most, he said. He said the decision would also adversely affect the HPSSC employees too, who would lose their seniority if transferred to other departments. Hitting out at the Congress government, former CM and leader of the opposition Jai Ram Thakur said an alternative mechanism should be put in place at the earliest, but remained apprehensive of any system.

"What is the guarantee that the selection of youth for recruitment would be transparent under the new system," he asked. "The chairman and the members have no role in the selection process and it appears that the Commission has been dissolved to remove the chairman and members," Thakur said.

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He said the chief minister's statement that there was corruption in the Commission from top to bottom is ambiguous and needs clarity. The culprits should be identified and stringent action should be taken against them, he said. Addressing media persons here, Thakur said the filling of about 4,000 posts is under process and any delay would harm the interests of youths, as many may become overage and barred from entering into a government job. Meanwhile, vigilance department SIT chief DIG Shiva Kumar visited the HPSSC office on Wednesday afternoon. He was accompanied by the department's ASP Renu Sharma.

No movement was seen at the office apart from the odd security staff. A spokesman for the HP SSC employees' union said they got the salaries for the month of January on February 21. "Nothing is clear about when the February salary will be credited." ASP Sharma said that the challans (chargesheet) of the eight people who were accused in the paper leak have been presented in the court. "Now preparations were on to submit the supplementary challan."

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HP SSC Employees Association President Joginder Thakur said if some people were involved in wrongdoing then strict action should have been taken against them. "But all the employees should not be punished by closing the commission's office. Some employees are going to retire this month." The Himachal Pradesh SSC's operation was suspended after the Junior Office Assistant JOA (IT) paper was leaked in December last year.

As per the investigations, irregularities/leakage were found in 18 examinations held in the past three years. The examination of JOA (IT) scheduled for December 25 was cancelled as the paper leak was unearthed on December 23, 2022 when the vigilance arrested senior assistant of HPSSC Uma Azad with solved question paper and Rs 2.5 lakh in cash. So far, eight people -- Uma Azad, her sons Nikhil Azad and Nitin Azad, tout Sanjeev and his brother Shashi Pal, and Neeraj, Ajay Sharma, and Tanu Sharma have been arrested in the case.