Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 24 Mar: A candidate charge-sheeted by the Special Investigation Cell (SIC) for her involvement in the infamous Arunachal Pradesh Staff Selection Board (APSSB) cash-for-job scam last year has been selected in the recruitment examination held by the Department of Women and Child Development (WCD).
As per the documents available with this daily, the office of the deputy director WCD (Tirap) district-level cell, Khonsa had issued an advertisement on 25 August, 2020 for the posts of district programme coordinator (DPC) and district programme assistant on contractual basis under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana.
The walk-in-interviews for the two posts were held on 24 and 25 September, 2020, respectively and the results were announced on 5 October, 2020, wherein one Jumcha Lamaty was selected as the DPC.
Lamaty is one of the 19 people named in the chargesheet issued by the SIC on 23 November, 2020 with regards to the APSSB scam.
This new development has caused the state branches of the International Human Rights Organisation (IHRO) and the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) to question “the integrity of the appointing authority.”
The IHRO and HRLN have asked the state chief secretary and the WCD department “as to how a delinquent was selected to the post when the person is chargesheeted to have been involved in such a scam.”
They pointed out that although the candidate was named in the chargesheet in November last year, the APSSB fiasco (in February 2020) took place much before the WCD recruitment exams and that it “raises suspicion against the appointing authorities.”
“It is a human rights violation as the selection of a delinquent candidate suggests that there is every possibility that another deserving candidate may not have been selected,” the organisations said.
Saying that the CCS Rules prohibits the recruitment of persons involved in such crimes, the organisations suggested that the department “take corrective measures.”
Tirap WCD Deputy Director H Bangsia informed that “the department was unaware of the case against the candidate” and that they “found out after the recruitment.”
On whether any measures would be initiated by the department, she said that “the deputy commissioner is the appointing authority and that he would have to take a call on the matter.”
The Tirap DC could not be reached by this daily due to connectivity issues.
In the meantime, current SIC SP Hemant Tiwari informed that “a candidate is not barred from applying for another job till he or she is convicted by the court, provided that they make full disclosure to the recruiting department that they have an FIR against them while applying. The concerned department can verify the facts and may wait for the outcome of the case. If a candidate has not disclosed about the case against them, the department can dismiss a selected candidate on the grounds of non-disclosure of facts, but not on the grounds that the candidate has an FIR against them.”
He assured to update on the latest developments in the APSSB case soon.
