M A I N   N E W S

ppsc scam
Non-tainted appointees can join duty, rules SC
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, May 23
The Supreme Court today directed the Punjab Government to allow all those who are not facing any charges in the 2002 jobs-for-cash scam in the state civil services (PCS) examination to join duty.

A Bench comprising Justices BS Chauhan and AK Sikri delivered the verdict on a batch of appeals filed by the affected candidates who had cleared the examination for the state executive service. The SC has already passed a similar order in respect of the candidates who had appeared for the judicial service, Additional Advocate General Ajay Bansal said.

As many as 29 candidates had come to the SC challenging the finding of a committee of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that it was not possible to distinguish between tainted and non-tainted officials who had joined the executive service in the wake of the 2002 examination held by the Punjab Public Service Commission when Ravinder Pal Singh Sidhu was heading it. Sidhu had quit the post in the wake of the scam. On May 27, 2008, the HC had placed at least 31 PCS (Judicial) officers back in the judgment seat. “The petitioners in respect of 1998, 1999 and 2000 batches are ordered to be reinstated,” it had said.

On July 15, 2013, the Rupnagar trial court had sentenced Sidhu to six years in jail and slapped a fine of Rs 1.5 lakh.

Sidhu had demanded a bribe of Rs 35 lakh in 2002 from the then excise and taxation inspector Bhupjit Singh for selecting him as a PSC (executive) officer. The state vigilance bureau had arrested him on March 25, 2002 while accepting Rs 5 from Singh at his residence in Sector 39, Chandigarh.

The SAS Nagar vigilance police had registered a case and recovered Rs 8.19 crore from his five bank lockers on April 19, 2002. The trial court had framed charges against him in November 2002. Sidhu was a journalist before being appointed as PPSC chairman in 1996. He has challenged his conviction in the high court.