Recruitment scam: Court defers hearing on JD(U) MLA’s bail plea

BHAGALPUR: The court of additional district judge (ADJ) Rakesh Malviya on Thursday deferred the hearing on anticipatory bail petition of Mewalal Choudhary, suspended JD (U) MLA from Tarapur assembly constituency (Munger district) and former vice-chancellor (VC) of Bihar Agriculture University (BAU) at Bhagalpur, till March 4. Choudhary is embroiled in a scandal related to irregularities in various appointments at BAU.
The court sought case diary from the police and adjourned the hearing till Saturday. The former VC is the accused in a case lodged against him by the registrar of the BAU on February 21. He has been charged under sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) on the basis of FIR registered against him at the Sabour police station in connection with gross irregularities in appointments for various posts at BAU.
The BAU initiated legal action against Choudhary, who had served the institution as VC since its inception in 2010 before entering into politics in 2015, after a probe committee found the accusations against him to be true and the chancellor gave his nod to legal proceedings against him.
Many appointments were allegedly made by ignoring merit. High marks in oral interview and power point presentation were allegedly allotted to selected applicants by the screening committee, sources said, adding even PhD degree holders and NET qualified candidates were ignored, causing much furore in the university circle.
According to BAU sources, a high level probe was conducted into gross irregularities in appointments of 161 assistant professors and junior scientists in 2012. The probe committee was headed by former Justice of Patna high court Justice Syed Mohammed Mahfooz Alam, who made an in-depth inquiry of the records besides cross-examining the BAU officials and the aggrieved persons.
Meanwhile, the special investigation team headed by DSP Ramesh Kumar is cross-examining the assistant professors and junior scientists besides rechecking their documents. The team is also likely to cross-examine the screening committee (interview board) members and the former VC soon.