Guwahati: The social media group “Fight Against Injustice of APSC” has accused the Assam government, led by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, of repeated failures in handling the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) cash-for-job scam.
According to the group, these failures have led to the reinstatement of several ACS and APS officers who were previously dismissed.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
Manas Pratim Baruah, the group’s administrator, claimed that Himanta Biswa Sarma government has been “playing legal hide and seek” with officers who were initially fired during the previous Sarbananda Sonowal government.
Baruah pointed to recent Gauhati High Court rulings that have stayed dismissal orders, enabling the officers’ reinstatement.
“The Sarma government has repeatedly said it will appeal to the Supreme Court, but for mysterious reasons, the government abstained from approaching the court,” Baruah said.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
He specifically cited a Gauhati High Court order from June 20, which stayed the dismissal of 52 of the 57 civil, police, and allied service officers from the 2013 and 2014 batches. These officers were implicated in the APSC “cash-for-jobs” scam.
The scam, which came to light in 2016, led to the arrest of 70 people, including former APSC chairman Rakesh Kumar Paul and 57 civil service officials.
Following the court’s decision, Chief Minister Sarma had called the ruling “painful” and vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court. “We will definitely appeal before the Supreme Court and will try till the last moment to ensure that no one who got their job through the wrong way is reinstated,” he stated. However, the government later chose not to pursue the appeal.
Baruah also referenced another Gauhati High Court order from August 20 that stayed the re-dismissal of 29 ACS and 12 APS officers, describing it as further evidence of the government’s “continuous failure and inefficiency.” He claimed that the Sarma government has not been able to successfully dismiss a single officer who secured their job through illegal means.
Furthermore, Baruah questioned the Sarma government’s handling of the Justice Biplab Kumar Sarma Commission report. The commission, formed at the direction of the High Court, submitted its report in April 2022 after investigating anomalies in the 2013 Combined Competitive Examinations (CCE).
The report accused 34 candidates of misconduct and recommended the dismissal of the entire batch of officers. Despite these findings and recommendations, the Assam government has not taken any action, with Chief Minister Sarma expressing “reluctance” to do so for “humanitarian reasons.”
Baruah contrasted the current government’s approach with that of the Sonowal administration, which he said had arrested several officers.
He claimed the current government is “providing a safe haven” for the accused. He also raised a question about whether the officers are being protected because the scam occurred while Himanta Biswa Sarma was part of the Congress party.
In addition, he questioned why Rajiv Paul, the brother of former APSC chief Rakesh Paul and an accused in the scam, has not been arrested by police for so many years.