In yet another blow to the reputation of the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC), five people have been arrested for their role in the alleged paper leak in the assistant engineer (civil) examination conducted by the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission on 26 and 27 August last. Altogether 415 candidates appeared for 33 posts of AEs in the recently concluded examination. Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Friday said that the state government will not tolerate any kind of corruption, and that strong action will be taken against the culprits involved in the paper leakage case.
Despite the tall claims by the government, corrupt practice in the public service commission continues to be a malaise for the institution. These kinds of repeated acts of paper leakage and corruption in the commission have damaged the reputation of the institution beyond repair. There is a need for drastic changes in the commission. To clean the malaise, all the present commission members, right from the chairman to the members, should resign. Secondly, there should be a major shake-up of the lower rank too. Further, while appointing the chairman and members, the state government should avoid people with political backing and give the posts to persons with a clean image and impeccable track record. The lives of thousands of aspirants get destroyed due to corrupt practices in the commission. In order to avoid it, the government should take drastic measures to rebuild the APPSC as a reputed intuition.