Congress alleges rigging in Haryana Assistant Professor recruitment exams; seeks re-conduct and judicial probe

Alleging large-scale rigging and irregularities in the recruitment process for Assistant Professors in various subjects in Haryana, Congress Rajya Sabha member Randeep Surjewala has demanded that the exams be conducted again in a transparent manner and judicial probe initiated into the matter. A delegation of candidates also submitted a memorandum to former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda at his Delhi residence in this connection.

Haryana CM media secretary Praveen Attrey denied the allegations as “baseless” saying that Mr. Surjewala had made similar accusations over half-a-dozen times since the BJP first came to power in 2014 and was “frustrated” over the people voting the saffron party to the power for the third time in a row expressing faith in its policies.

Mr. Surjewala, at a press conference in Hisar, alleged rigging in the exam for the recruitment of Assistant Professor (Geography) saying that 32 questions for the exam conducted by the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) were taken from the question paper for Geography’s exam conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC).

Is it a coincidence or an experiment that HPSC Chairman Alok Verma has also been “imported” from Bihar, said Mr. Surjewala adding that the recruitment process could be easily manipulated by hinting the candidates to prepare from the BPSC question paper.

The HPSC had advertised 2,424 posts for Assistant Professors in 26 subjects in August last year and around 1.5 lakh youth had applied for it. The posts were advertised after a gap of around five years.

Mr. Surjewala said seals of envelopes carrying question papers for Assistant Professor (Hindi) exam were found broken at six centres and the HPSC had to cancel the exam two days later following a backlash. The HPSC initially maintained that the process was not compromised, but later cancelled the exam, which was the “biggest proof of scam”, alleged Mr. Surjewala.

Addressing the delegation of the candidates appearing for the Assistant Professor exam, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that “paper leaks, copy-paste exams and scams have become synonymous with the recruitments conducted under the BJP government”.

On this occasion, Mr. Hooda said that grave irregularities have come to light in the Assistant Professor recruitment exam conducted by the HPSC. Apart from History, serious discrepancies have also been exposed in subjects like Hindi, Zoology, Chemistry and Physics, he said, adding that the candidates had already submitted detailed written complaints to the Commission, demanding the cancellation of these examinations.

The candidates informed Mr. Hooda that 24 questions in the History paper were copied verbatim from a question paper for the recruitment of Assistant Professors by the Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission. The HPSC did not even bother to modify the questions, not in language nor in context.

Mr. Attrey, however, accused the Congress of arbitrarily distributing jobs to its “near and dear ones” during its ten-year rule, adding that the party was perturbed over change in system during the rule of the BJP, which had ensured jobs on merit.