M A I N   N E W S

PPSC members without work for three years
Maneesh Chhibber
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 15
The Members and staff of the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) are on a paid holiday for the past over three years. Since assuming office in April 2002, the Amarinder Singh government has failed to refer most of the vacancies to the PPSC for making selections. And, it is not as if the posts, for which selections to be made by the PPSC, have not fallen vacant in the past three years.

However, except for dealing with some cases pertaining to induction into the PCS from among serving government officials, the PPSC has been given no work.

"We come to office almost on a daily basis. But, what can we do if the government does not want us to do any work?" lamented a Member.

The PPSC has seven Members, with three of them having been appointed by the previous SAD-BJP government. Sources say that the reluctance of the government in referring posts to the PPSC stems from the fact that it has little faith in Members appointed by the previous government.

Since coming to power, the government has appointed two Chairpersons — Lieut-Gen Surjit Singh Sangra (retd) and Lieut-Gen T.S. Shergill (retd). Both demitted office after the completion of their terms, with General Shergill's tenure ending on September 29. After him, one of the Members, former IPS officer Bakhshi Ram, has been acting as Chairperson.

When Mai Roop Kaur was appointed Member of PPSC, a lot of questions had been raised over her qualification to hold the Constitutional post as she was reportedly a simple graduate.

One of the major examinations that the PPSC conducted was the re-examination of the PCS, necessitated by the cash-for-jobs scam allegedly orchestrated by the then Chairman, Ravinderpaul Singh Sidhu, in 1998.

Ravi Sidhu was the first big catch of the present government and re-examination for the PCS posts was ordered after it came out that he had allegedly taken bribes to help a number of candidates get into the PCS.

"After that re-exam, we have done precious little. But, we are not responsible for the present state of affairs," said a Member who did not wish to be quoted.

However, another Member refuses to accept that the PPSC has been sitting idle. He asserted that except for making selections for the PCS (Executive) and PPS, the PPSC has been regularly making other categories of selections.

"We have to look after cases of government departments relating to punishment, inquiries, appeals and promotions beyond a certain cadre. We have also made selections of PCMS doctors, college lecturers, professors and associate professors in medical colleges, etc. Apart from this, we have been regularly studying the service rules and making suggestions for carrying out changes," he claimed.

Despite his strong defence of the functioning of the PPSC, experts and educated unemployed candidates awaiting a date with the PPSC point to the huge number of vacancies in various departments. They also point to the fact that despite promising re-conduct of the PPS exam after the scrapping of the list finalised by the Ravi Sidhu-led PPSC, nothing has been done in the last three years.

"People like me have been waiting for a long time now. Many candidates have even become over-age and are hence not eligible to sit for future exams. And, what about the vacant posts of PCMS doctors, college and school principals, veterinary doctors, etc? When will the government finally decide to fill these posts?" asked Rajinder Singh (name changed), who holds a PhD degree.