The Assam Government is yet to implement a 2015 Gauhati High Court order to constitute a judicial commission to investigate anomalies in conducting the recruitment examination by the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC).
A report published in the The Telegraph stated that Fight Against Injustice in APSC, a forum of “deprived candidates”, on Friday warned the Assam Government that if it does not constitute the judicial commission within the next 14 days, they would be forced to move the High Court.
The report further stated that the High Court in October 2015 had directed the Assam Government to constitute a judicial commission headed by a retired judge to inquire into alleged “anomalies and misconduct” in conducting the civil services examinations conducted by the APSC in 2013.
The Supreme Court, however, stayed the High Court order in November 2015 after the then APSC Chairman Rakesh Kumar Paul filed a special leave petition in the apex court challenging it. “The Supreme Court on March 22 this year dismissed the petition filed by Paul and vacated the stay. Five months have passed since the apex court dismissed Paul’s petition but the State Government has not yet formed the judicial commission,” said Manash Pratim Baruah, a member of Fight Against Injustice in APSC.
“After the Supreme Court dismissed Paul’s petition, we had written to the Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on April 10 last to constitute the judicial commission but so far nothing has been done,” Baruah said. He wondered why it is taking so long for the Sonowal Government, which goes hammer and tongs about its zero-tolerance policy against corruption, to comply with the High Court order and constitute the judicial commission.
He also demanded cancellation of all appointments made on the basis of the results of Combined Competitive Exam, 2013, conducted by the APSC because of “large-scale irregularities”. Baruah also accused the State Government of not taking action against a section of Assam Civil Service (ACS), Assam Police Service (APS) and allied services officers who had got their jobs “through illegal means as they are related to influential persons and BJP leaders”.