GUWAHATI: The secretary and joint secretary of the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) have been suspended over the alleged cash-for-jobs scam in the commission.
Arunachal Pradesh chief secretary Dharmendra on Wednesday night placed APPSC secretary Jayanta Kumar Ray, an IAS officer, under suspension. The order was issued following the approval of governor Brig (Retd.) Dr BD Mishra. Through another order signed by Dharmendra, the joint secretary-cum-controller of the APPSC exam, Suraj Gurung, was also suspended. Gurung is a state civil service officer.
Both have been asked not to leave the state capital Itanagar without prior permission.
The suspension orders were issued hours after leaders of the All Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union (AAPSU) and the All Nyishi Students' Union (ANSU) met CM Pema Khandu demanding the suspension of the top APPSC officials. ANSU president Nabam Dodum had on Wednesday said they were assured that the senior officials will be suspended soon, following the fulfilment of the official formalities.
CM Khandu chaired a cabinet meeting on APPSC's paper leak issue on Thursday, vowing to deal firmly with the perpetrators. "We've taken a serious note of the lapse and are determined to further streamline the system by plugging the gaps. We can't tolerate any lacunae which undermine the sanctity of an institution like APPSC," Khandu tweeted.
Ten people, including several government officials, have been arrested in connection with the alleged question paper leak of an engineering entrance test conducted by the commission in August. Arrested APPSC deputy controller of examinations, Taket Jerang, has already been asked to go on compulsory retirement.
Jolted by the cash-for-jobs scam, the state government last month wrote to the Centre seeking a CBI probe into the matter.
The alleged scam came to the fore when the state police started investigation after a candidate approached the cops seeking a probe into the suspected leak of the assistant engineer (civil) exam paper. The mains examinations to fill up 33 posts of assistant engineers were held on August 26 and 27 in which a total of 415 candidates had appeared.
Kangkan Kalita is a reporter with The Times of India and covers i...
Read MoreKangkan Kalita is a reporter with The Times of India and covers issues on health, education, stories of human interest while keeping a close watch on political developments and student movements. Reporting on environment and forest related issues and concerns of the northeast interest him equally.
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