Chandigarh, December 11
The Punjab Government has decided to terminate the services of 909 Panchayat Secretaries selected and appointed between 1996 and March, 2000.
A government spokesman said today that the decision was based on a comprehensive inquiry conducted by the Financial Commissioner, Rural Development and Panchayats, on the directions issued to the Chief Secretary by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which found that serious irregularities had, in fact, been committed during the selection process that preceded the appointment of these 909 Panchayat Secretaries.
Referring to the inquiry, the spokesman said that the irregularities ranged from the appointment of 909 candidates against only 700 posts for which an advertisement was released. No proper maintenance of records of the applications submitted, non-availability of details like name, parentage and address in respect of a large number of candidates; selection of individuals whose names did not even figure in the interview list, selection of a number of underage and overage candidates, instances wherein candidates with lower marks in the written test were invited for the interview when others with higher marks were ignored, clear discrimination against meritorious/reserved category candidates, and post-dated entry of marks to benefit favoured candidates.
In view of these irregularities and other discrepancies in the process of selection, it was decided to terminate the services of all 909 Panchayat Secretaries.
The spokesman said the decision was in keeping with the law as established by various judgements of the Supreme Court of India. He further stated that the government would shortly initiate fresh written tests and interviews for approximately 1,100 posts of Panchayat Secretary. To ensure completely fair and transparent selections both written tests and interviews would be conducted by the respective Zila Parishads under the direct supervision of the Deputy Commissioners concerned. A single date would be designated for the test and interview throughout the state.
The Department of Rural Development and Panchayats would prepare two to three sets of question papers to be randomly sent in sealed covers to each Deputy Commissioner only a day prior to the written test, and these would be opened only half an hour before the test. The candidates to be called for interviews would be strictly according to merit and these would also be conducted on a single pre-designated date in all districts.
The fresh selection process to recruit Panchayat Secretaries would be treated as a ‘test case’ for transparency, and the entire exercise would be closely coordinated by the Chief Secretary and the Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayats.
