Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, Feb 6: The Arunachal Pradesh Youth Congress (APYC) has accused the state government of shielding the secretary and the director of land management from being investigated by the special investigation cell (SIC) of the state vigilance department.
The APYC alleged that Land Management Secretary SK Jain and Director E Nangkar were involved in illegal appointment of staffers in the department, and demanded an inquiry against them.
“The state government is shielding Secretary SK Jain and Director E Nangkar from being investigated by the SIC,” APYC president Geli Ete alleged in a statement.
He claimed that although the SIC has, on the basis of the APYC’s complaint, sought approval from the state government to conduct investigation into the allegation under the Prevention of Corruption Act, “the government is not acting on it.”
Ete said the APYC has set 25 February as the deadline for the government to approve the request for investigation. He said the APYC would be compelled to launch a democratic movement if the government fails to act by then.
On 5 September, 2019, APYC general secretary Tanu Nima Dulom had submitted a representation to the chief secretary, demanding investigation against Jain and Nangkar, accusing them of being involved in illegally appointing staffers.
Responding to an RTI application submitted by Dulom, the department had admitted that there are five staffers, including SKs and chainmen, who were appointed without conducting proper written tests.
On being contacted by this daily, Jain denied the allegation, claiming that “it is wrong information without facts.”
He said while “the letter says ‘under the supervision of SK Jain’,” it did not imply that he had appointed those staffers.
“It is a fact that not a single person has been appointed by me. The director is competent to appoint Grade C himself,” he said in a message.
This daily was unable to get a response from Nangkar and the state government on the APYC’s accusation.
