New Delhi, March 6
The CBI has nailed former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and IAS officer Sanjiv Kumar in Haryana’s much-debated JBT teachers’ recruitment scam. The investigation done by the agency has come to the conclusion that apart from the two, Chautala’s son Ajay also played a crucial role.
Though the CBI investigation report was submitted to the Supreme Court in a “sealed cover” a few weeks ago, sources in the agency said that Chautala, Ajay, the then OSD Vidyadhar in the CM’s office and the former director of Primary Education (DPE) Sanjiv Kumar had acted in close coordination to get a “fake” list published to give jobs to those candidates who paid money and deprived a majority of genuinely selected candidates from the appointment.
While Vidyadhar played a key role in getting the “genuine” selection list replaced for the appointment of nearly 4,000 primary school teachers in October 2000, Ajay Chautala was instrumental in recommending the names of those who should be given the job, the sources said.
Though Sanjiv Kumar had moved the apex court soon after the scam came to light accusing Chautala of “pressurising” him for releasing the “fake” list and he had refused to oblige him, the agency has disbelieved his version and has named him one among the 12 accused.
The agency is awaiting sanction against Sanjiv Kumar and Vidyadhar for filing the chargesheet for which the apex court has given further time of six weeks.
According to sources, Vidyadhar had got the “fake” list prepared on the basis of recommendation made by Om Prakash Chautala and his son Ajay.
The fake list for completion of the formalities was routed through the district selection committees which were packed with Chautala’s men. The primary consideration for putting the name in the list was money. A few closely connected people were also given the job, the sources said.
They said that the attempt of Sanjiv Kumar to move the apex court and deny any role in the appointment “racket” was an attempt to “wriggle” out of it when differences had emerged between him and Chautala, who had brought him to the post of DPE after two of his predecessors refused to “buckle” under pressure.
Though the selection process was set in motion in 1999, it lingered on for an abnormally longer period as two DPEs - R.P. Chandra and Rajni Shekri Sibbal - who held the post prior to Sanjiv Kumar proved to be tough nuts.
The genuine list was prepared during Chandra’s tenure and Shekri, in fact, had compounded Chautala’s problem as she had put the entire record of the selection process under “seal” and the tampering of which had become difficult for any succeeding DPE.
The seal, in fact, proved to be the “nemesis” of all the accused persons as when it was tampered to change the list, several persons in the directorate got the wind of it and the scam became public.
