Chandigarh, Nov 16 (PTI) Opposition leaders sought an in-depth probe into the Punjab naib tehsildar recruitment “scam” on Wednesday, a day after police arrested five people for allegedly helping candidates cheat in the exam.
According to police, the accused struck a deal at Rs 22 lakh to help the candidates clear the exam, which was conducted by the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) in May.
Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira, who had in October alleged a scam in the recruitment test, sought an in-depth inquiry into the alleged scam and action against those candidates who took the help of the accused.
“Quite surprising that those who helped candidates cheat in Naib Tehsildar exams by Ppsc have been arrested while candidates who paid 22 lacs each for the cheating are scotting free (got off scot-free)? @BhagwantMann should order an in-depth inquiry into the cash for jobs scam in Punjab,” the Bholath MLA said in a tweet.
This has put the PPSC’s entire procedure of conducting exams under a cloud and the state government should conduct inquiries into all recruitment tests held recently.
In October, alleging a scam in the naib tehsildar recruitment exam, Khaira had claimed that some candidates who had failed in clerical and other tests topped the exam for this post.
Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who had also raised this issue earlier, sought a CBI probe or a judicial inquiry monitored by a sitting high court judge into the matter to unearth the “multi-crore naib tehsildar recruitment scam”.
Majithia said, “70,000 candidates who sat for the paper want a transparent probe and will not be satisfied with an eyewash which targets low-level accomplices.” He also demanded that the entire recruitment process for the post be scrapped immediately.
After this, the Akali leader said, all other examinations conducted by the PPSC should be conducted afresh in a transparent manner.
According to police, the accused had some dummy candidates apply for the test and appear for it just so that they could click photos of the question paper using hidden cameras and share them with subject experts in Haryana.
The answers were then conveyed to the actual candidates using electronic devices fitted with sim cards and bluetooth earbuds, the police said. PTI CHS VSD DIV DIV
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