Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, Aug 17: The Arunachal Pradesh Staff Selection Board (APSSB) Aspirants’ Interim Committee for Justice and Reformation (ICJR) announced that it will observe ‘black day’ on 25 August outside the secretariat here to express its dissatisfaction over the delay in making the two-member high-level inquiry committee’s report public.
This comes after the ICJR had on 8 August given a week’s ultimatum to the state government to furnish the report.
Addressing reporters at the press club here on Monday, advocate SD Loda said, “In early June, the chief secretary had assured the aspirants that a chargesheet would be filed and the inquiry report would be made public by 30 June.”
“After one month, we submitted a seven days’ ultimatum, and the chief secretary gave the status of the investigation, but it was not satisfactory,” he said.
Pointing out that the recommendation of the inquiry committee is crucial to taking action against the officers involved in the scam, Loda said it is necessary to initiate administrative action against the erring officials, besides taking action against those involved in the criminal act of taking cash for jobs.
“We have no clue whether action is being taken on an administrative level,” he said.
“The case of cash-for-job in Lohit district in the recruitment of contractual nursing officers is also an example of how corrupt officers have no fear of the law because no serious action has been taken against former APSSB undersecretary Kapter Ringu,” the committee said, and asked Chief Minister Pema Khandu to fulfill his promise of initiating action within one week of the committee’s submitting the report.
“Give us a proper date when we can expect the matter to be completed. If you feel you cannot provide justice to the aspirants then resign on moral grounds,” the ICJR said.
On 25 August, the aggrieved candidates here will don black bands/ribbons and observe ‘black day’ from 10 am to 12 noon.
The ICJR requested the aspirants in other districts to also stage peaceful protests outside their respective DC offices to collectively send a message that the matter of cash-for-job is not confined to a particular area.
The LDC/JSA examination was held on 2 February this year. The results were declared on 14 February, and a blank answer sheet with the roll number 2025546 was seen doing the rounds on social media on 15 February, creating a furore among candidates.
A total of 315 candidates, including the one whose OMR sheet was alleged to be suspicious, had been shortlisted for the skill test.
On 3 March, a high-level inquiry committee, comprising Principal Resident Commissioner Jitendra Narain and Home Commissioner Kaling Tayeng, had been constituted by the government to inquire into the alleged malpractices in the examination.
The report was submitted to the government on 24 March.