Will the APPSC come out of its quagmire? DAKTER ESSE, ITANAGAR: The Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC), which is known for conducting the most competitive and toughest statewide examinations, is on the edge of losing its ground. The Commission was compelled to postpone the APPSCCE (Mains) 2013-14 for alleged leakage of the General Studies Question Paper-II that rocked the state when it surfaced months ago. Will the APPSC come out of its quagmire? Chief Minister Nabam Tuki on December 18 last year ordered an SIT probe into the fiasco, but it came too late. The APPSCE aspirants themselves had earlier requested for such an inquiry, but the CM had declined, saying a magisterial inquiry would be good enough. Not surprisingly, the consultative committee consisting of the aspirants has denounced the governments delayed order for an SIT probe. A committee headed by Naharlagun EAC Hento Karga was set up as part of the magisterial inquiry in September to investigate the matter and submit its report to the state government in December. The matter was later discussed at the cabinet meeting, but the cabinet allegedly failed to come out with any concrete decision at that point of time. However, an eleventh hour official statement today responded that, the cabinet has decided to initiate criminal proceedings against the person involved through SIT and has directed the DGP to constitute a SIT. Four officers of the APPSC- the joint secretary, the deputy secretary, the private secretary, and the PA to joint secretary were suspended- which left the aspirants dissatisfied. No reason was furnished as to why they were included in the committee at all or the grounds on which they were suspended apart from stating their negligence. The aspirants, supported by the Opposition BJP, demanded that the details of the inquiry be made public. The whole fiasco has now zeroed down to the question of why the magisterial inquiry report was not made public and why the SIT probe has been ordered late in the day. The aspirants intensified their agitation another notch by demanding the resignation of APPSC chairman Ligu Tacho and APPSC member Mamang Dai and conducting the Mains exam afresh after resetting all the question papers. One of the aspirants, Ujum Perying, is to sit on a 72-hour hunger strike from January 8 to have the demands met. RGUs Political Science HoD Dr Nani Bath along with the state BJPs media in-charge Jarpum Gamlin and social activist Bengia Augung have said that they would join Perying for the first 12 hours of the strike. Speaking to this daily, Dr Bath said, My joining is for a corrupt-free Arunachal. He advocated a complete restructuring of the way the Commission functions, and suggested that the government and the Commission seek the assistance of Arunachalee bureaucrats with experience in the UPSC. Pitching for the same, Augung said that the appointees to the APPSC must have clean backgrounds. He said, No officers or staff should be made a scapegoat. Transparency in the matter is important. The whole episode has snowballed into a major crisis, and there is a need to rectify the stalemate to retain the lost glory of the APPSC as the most trustworthy institute that selects the best to serve the state. Speaking to this daily, APPSCCE consultative committee chairman Israel Perme sought to know why the magisterial enquiry report is being kept away from the public. Commenting on the hunger strike, he said, I hope the hunger strike will be successful and hope the government will listen to us instead of playing with us. Another aspirant, Mepe Ete, said, I would like to request Union MoS Kiren Rijiju to intervene and put forward his view on the paper leakage before irreparable damages are done to the aspirants. His stoic silence on this issue is a surprise to me. I have personally tried to contact him. What may be called a delayed response is the official statement that has just surfaced today, a day before the 72 hours hunger strike. The statement reads that based on the enquiry report the general studies paper held on September 14 last year is to be cancelled, suspension of four senior officers till the submission of preliminary report of enquiry officers and that the government has posted a senior IAS officer Ashok Kumar as secretary to APPSC, Rupak Boje, senior APCS officer as joint secretary-cum-controller of examination and Tayi Taggu, senior APCS officer as deputy secretary to smoothly carry out the work of APPSC Meanwhile the timeframe of the examination has gone beyond its limit, and the Commission has lost its sanctity along with the confidence of the people. This apparently is not the first case where the APPSCs credibility has come into question. In 2011, serious complaints were raised over the recruitment of assistant engineers. Time and again, the APPSC has been criticized for alleged irregularities in its recruitment processes. This time round, it needs to exhibit alertness and dedication to due process. Else it will bring down itself down. In the circumstances, if that happens, it would be like the fall of Goliath.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 06:43:20 +0000
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