Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 30: BJP spokesperson, J&K Abhinav Sharma today sought thorough probe into the allegations of irregularities in the selection process of firemen and drivers, in the Fire and Emergency Services the advertisements for which were published way back in 2013.
Addressing a press conference here, he alleged that the selection to these posts was made under the shadow of neck-deep corruption as already the entire process remained tainted and full of hiccups. He appealed to LG Manoj Sinha to intervene and oversee the probe to ensure justice to the youth of the UT.
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Abhinav said that the qualification for firemen was eighth standard and for the driver was 8th pass along with driving license of heavy goods vehicle and the last date of the submission of the application was 18th of April 2013. He said that the Department came to know about irregularities after the conduct of physical endurance test and written test and therefore in 2016, the then Principal Secretary ordered to annul the entire process claiming that proxy candidates took part in the written exam and even mobile phones were used inside the exam centres.
The people knocked the doors of court questioning the logic behind annulling the entire process. The court ordered that only the written test should be re-conducted and subsequently the order in this regard was issued. After that, some aspirants again approached the court and alleged malpractice in the exam, the court asked them to first contact the concerned Principal Secretary. As a consequence, the court directed to hold the written test afresh but with changed staff and by some other agency debarring the existing TCL, which was responsible for the entire recruitment process earlier. It was surprising that the new firm which was given the task to re-conduct the exam in April 2018 was owned by the owner of the earlier firm TCL namely Maharaj Krishan Valli”, Abhinav said, adding that this was not enough as the Government changed the set criteria of 65 marks for 8th standard, 5 additional marks for Class 10 and 5 marks each for Class 12th and Graduation, and 20 marks for interview.
“Later, the Government further changed the criteria by dispensing with the marks stipulated for class 10 and graduation”, he said, adding that the majority of students from classes 8th and 10th were selected in the written test conducted a third time.
Questioning the selection process he said four successful candidates were of the same family from Budgam and two from a family of Pulwama raising a doubt over the genuineness of the selection process.
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