Ahmedabad, Dec 22(PTI) The opposition Congress in Gujarat on Wednesday demanded cancellation of the recruitment process conducted by the state Information and Broadcasting department, alleging that rules were flouted to induct ineligible candidates.
The demand came a day after the Gujarat High Court stayed the recruitment process of officers in the state I&B department while hearing a petition which challenged the ”manner and method” in which the recruitment for Class- I and Class-II officers was done.
Senior Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia claimed rules were flouted so that people having links with senior officers or the ruling BJP could be recruited as officers in the I&B department.
Ideally, the Gujarat Public Service Commission (GPSC) should be roped in for the recruitment of Class-I and Class-II officers, the former Gujarat Congress president said addressing a press conference at the state party headquarters here.
“Instead, the BJP government formed a committee by issuing a government resolution, which was against the law. Moreover, despite having their own infrastructure, a private agency was given the contract to conduct the written test,” the Congress leader claimed.
Alleging irregularities at examination centres and involvement of unauthorised people, Modhwadia also demanded that the CCTV footage of all the centers be released.
For eight posts of Class-I and 15 posts of Class-II, nearly 1,200 candidates had appeared in the written exam, of whom 108 were called for the final interview, he said.
“A five-member committee, which was formed for the interview, had three retired government employees who are on extension. Since the chairman and an expert remained absent on most occasions, the trio had finalised candidates. Even the reservation quota was not followed,” Modhwadia claimed.
Those who had received less marks in the written test were given nearly 70 out of 100 marks in the interview, he further claimed.
“We demand that the entire recruitment process be scrapped and a fresh process under the Gujarat Public Service Commission (GPSC) be initiated. We also demand the arrest of those involved in this scam,” he said.
The HC on Tuesday stayed the process of recruitment for the post of deputy director of information, Class I, and assistant director of information (journalism), Class II, in the state I&B department on a plea filed by four candidates who could not make it to the final list.
