Chandigarh, May 27
Announcing a major decision with regard to the recruitment made by the Punjab Public Service
Commission (PPSC) in recent years, the state government today said that “it has been decided to hold a fresh selection process through an independent agency for all candidates who appeared for a written test and/or interview for various posts in different departments of the government during the tenure of Mr Ravinder Pal Singh Sidhu, Chairman of the commission”.
Mr Sidhu joined as Chairman in September, 1996.
Making an announcement in this connection, a spokesman of the government said that already the government had dispensed with the services of 28 PCS officers and reverted 18 others. “A similar exercise will be conducted in respect of all other candidates recruited to various departments by the commission during this period”, the spokesman added.
Following the uncovering of the recruitment scam, the entire functioning of the commission has become suspect. However, today’s decision of the government has the potential of turning into a big controversy and leading to a number of legal tangles and also social consequences.
In other words, the government has decided to remove 3,446 other government employees who came through the PPSC during the tenure of Mr Sidhu. These employees had joined various government departments. Shortly before the Assembly elections, the commission, in addition to these employees, had selected 639 more candidates, but they were not given appointment letters because when the new government was processing their cases, the recruitment scandal in the commission was exposed.
The decision to provide a fresh opportunity to all employees selected during Mr Sidhu’s tenure appears to have been taken following reports in the media that while removing PCS officers, a number of persons whose names did not figure in any list of “tainted” officers were also removed.
