Ahmedabad Dec 21 PTI The Congress in Gujarat on Tuesday demanded an inquiry by a sitting High Court judge into the leak of a question paper for the exam conducted recently for the recruitment of government head clerks The party said that big fish was always let off whenever such paper leaks happened in the past Earlier in the day the state government declared that the exam held on December 12 was cancelled following the leak of the question paper ahead of the written test Over 30 MLAs of Congress led by Leader of Opposition Sukhram Rathva met with Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Tuesday and handed him a memorandum demanding a High Court-monitored probe This is not the first time a paper has been leaked in the state It is happening again and again because the government never goes to the root of the entire conspiracy Big fish are always let off while petty criminals are held for the sake of action Thus we demand a thorough investigation under the High Courts supervision Rathva told reporters in Gandhinagar after meeting the CM On the other hand BJP said it will take action against anyone who is found guilty in the paper leak probe Earlier in the day Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi had said that the paper leak case will be tried in a fast track court to set an example The written exam for the recruitment of 186 head clerks was held at different centres across the state on December 12 by the Gujarat Subordinate Service Selection Board GSSSB with nearly 88000 aspirants appearing for the test The Congress also demanded that GSSSB chairman Asit Vora a senior BJP leader resign on moral grounds If he does not voluntarily accept his responsibility and tenders his resignation the state government should remove him from the post said Rathva When asked about Voras responsibility in this entire paper leak episode Gujarat BJP president CR Paatil said the police will take action against the guilty without any discrimination Vora is a respected person and a senior BJP leader But a free and fair probe is being conducted and the guilty will not be spared The BJP does not believe in any favouritism This is a matter of the future of our young people Stern action will be taken against the culprits Paatil told reporters At least 14 people have been arrested so far from different parts of Gujarat in connection with the case according to police Congress also demanded that since candidates have incurred expenses on the preparation of the now-cancelled exam each of the 88000 candidates should be given Rs 5000 per month to meet their expenses till the fresh exam takes place The government has announced to conduct a fresh exam in March next year The 14 people arrested by the police include the main accused Jayesh Patel who had acquired the paper a day before the exam was conducted from the manager of a private printing press where the paper was printed The question paper was sold to more than 15 candidates The accused also helped the beneficiaries in solving this question paper at various locations a day before the exam as per the investigators An FIR was registered at the Prantij police station under the Indian Penal Code Sections 420 cheating 409 criminal breach of trust and 120-B criminal conspiracy against the accused PTI PJT PD NSK NSK

Chandigarh Dec 20 PTI The Opposition Congress on Monday demanded a high court judge-supervised CBI probe into the alleged dental surgeon and HCS officer recruitment scam in Haryana and the removal of the Haryana Public Service Commission chairman over the issueLeader of Opposition in the Haryana Assembly Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the chairman of the commission cannot be absolved of his responsibility in the alleged recruitment scamThe Congress leader and former chief minister along with Rohtak MLA B B Batra claimed in the Assembly that the scam was not perpetrated by sacked HPSC deputy secretary Anil Nagar alone but there is a deep-rooted conspiracy which needs to be investigated by the CBI under the supervision of a high court judgeBatra a former HPSC chairman said the incumbent chairman lacked in his duty and should be removed from officeHe should step down on moral grounds Batra added taking part in the nearly three-and-a-half-hour-long discussion after opposition MLAs brought an Adjournment Motion on the alleged scam which surfaced recentlyThe Congress has dubbed it the biggest job scam of Haryana Nagar was sacked and arrested recently for allegedly taking bribes to manipulate marks obtained by candidates for recruitmentTowards the end of the discussion in the assembly on the motion Congress MLAs staged a brief walkout as the government turned down the partys demand for a CBI probe under the supervision of a high court judge Batra later told reportersChief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in his reply in the House asserted that state agencies conducting the probe are competent and an impartial investigation was underwayThose found guilty will not be spared Khattar said adding that if the opposition had any information related to discrepancy it should give it to the State Vigilance Bureau or the court so that immediate action can be takenSince many members of the opposition including the Congress mentioned during the discussions said the chief minister is honest they should have faith as he was assuring a fair probe in the matter Khattar saidMaintaining that his government has given jobs on merit and in a transparent manner Khattar said that since many members of the opposition including of the Congress mentioned during the discussions that the chief minister is honest they should have faith as he was assuring a fair probe in the matterThe lengthy discussion on the motion also saw sharp exchanges between ruling and opposition benches with some Congress MLAs rushing to the Well of the House demanding a high court-monitored probeOn the alleged scam Khattar said HPSC officials including the chairman and the secretary are being associated with the investigation on a regular basis OMR sheets and digital media obtained from HPSC have been sent for forensic examination he addedNotices have been sent to suspects who appeared in the HCS as well as the dental surgeon examination and some of them have joined the investigation the chief minister saidThe investigation so far has revealed that the accused did not succeed in compromising any examination other than the HCS preliminary and the dental surgeon examination conducted by the HPSC Khattar saidA free and impartial inquiry is being conducted by the state vigilance he saidCongress leader Batra however questioned the HPSC chairmans roleWhat was the chairman doing all this while He cannot be absolved for the wrongdoings committed by the deputy secretary and any other official of the commission he said demanding the HPSC chairmans removalHooda cited an unverified communication doing the rounds on social media platforms in which two people are apparently discussing the recruitment done by the HPSC and the role money played in itHe demanded that this too needs to be investigatedResponding Khattar launched an attack on the previous Congress government in the state saying 11 recruitments made by it were cancelled by the courts Hooda said those were on technical grounds and not because of any allegation of corrupt practicesOn repeated attacks from the treasury benches Hooda said he was open to any probe if the government thinks wrongdoings were done by the CongressBJP MLA Harvinder Kalyan demanded that the government should issue a white paper on how many candidates recruited to top posts between 2005 and 2014 were relatives of legislators MPs ministers etcIndian National Lok Dal leader Abhay Singh Chautala also attacked the government over the alleged scam and demanded an independent probeEarlier senior Congress leader Kiran Choudhary said after the alleged scam came to light the governments response was too little and too late It is a ploy to net in the small fish and save big crocodiles in the game the legislator saidThe opposition also questioned why Anil Nagar a relatively junior HCS officer of the 2016-batch was posted as deputy secretary of the HPSC against a non-sanctioned postThe HPSC chairman has been the chief ministers aide-de-camp tours for a number of years and so hopes for a fair probe in the matter at the government-level are dim Choudhary saidMaintaining the pristine purity of the selection process in public employment is imperative to keep faith in the system intact For this the HPSC and the HSSC should be completely revamped the opposition demanded PTI SUN VSD IJT