New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation Thursday booked unknown officials of the Staff Selection Commission for being “highly suspected” in the allegedly illegal and fraudulent recruitment process during the Combined Graduate Level (CGL) Examination held in 2019.
The FIR was filed a week after the issue was flagged by the Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN), which alleged that one Pardeep from Haryana’s Panipat secured a job as an Inspector in the CBN, possibly by forging thumb prints.
In its complaint to the CBI, the CBN Commissioner alleged on 4 September: “It is further alleged that thumb prints of Pardeep were found dissimilar and unidentical with regard to the thumb prints obtained of the examinee during various stages of examination. The criminal involvement of unknown officials of SSC and exam conducting authority is highly suspected in this illegal & fraudulent recruitment process.”
Based on the complaint, the agency booked Pardeep and unnamed government officials of the SSC under sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2018 that deals with bribery of a public servant.
The SSC is a central government body created in 1975, and it holds recruitment examinations to fill vacancies for various Group B (non-gazetted) and Group C (non-technical) posts in ministries, departments, and other government organisations including the CBI, NIA, CBN, CBIC, and CBDT.
The SSC had released a notification for the CGL-2019 in October 2019, and the exam was held between March and June 2020.
The development comes at a time when the SSC has been mired in controversy over allegations of mismanagement.
Even the examination for the tier 1 of this year’s CGL, scheduled to start Friday, was cancelled at some centres and students were notified just before the exam was to start. More than 28 lakh students have signed up to appear for these examinations, which are being held between 12 and 26 September, across 260 centres in 129 cities.
Thousands of students and aspirants have protested against the SSC in the recent past in the national capital, alleging gross negligence and misconduct by the government body and its officials.
Some of these students have alleged that the Selection Post Phase‑13 exam attempted by nearly 5 lakh candidates across 194 centres in 142 cities was cancelled at some centres without prior notice and shortly before the scheduled date.
This exam was then rescheduled for 2 August at those centres, but only 60 percent of the aspirants managed to take it; the rest were either not informed on time, or could not travel to the centre again at such short notice.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)