Assam govt suspends 15 ACS, APS officers

GUWAHATI, Dec 1: The state government has suspended 15 state civil
service and police 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 15 officers placed under suspension through orders issued
on Thursday, 11 are from the Assam Police Service (APS) and the rest
from the Assam Civil Service (ASC).
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 notifications 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.
The evidence-based on which the now-suspended officers are facing
investigation was reported in the one-man Justice (Retd) BK Sarma
commission.
It had unearthed “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 Rakesh Kumar
Paul while conducting the Combined Competitive Examination, 2013/
2014”, the notification added.
The APSC was embroiled in the cash-for-job scam, which came to light
in 2016, and nearly 70 persons, including Paul and over 50 civil and
police services officials, have been arrested so far.
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. (PTI)