Will go after those hired on fake degrees: Bhagwant Mann
Ruchika M Khanna
Chandigarh, June 11
A manager, recruited in the Punjab State Cooperative Agricultural Development Bank, on the recommendation of a prominent Akali leader, has been dismissed from service on Thursday, after it was found he did not have the qualifications for the job. He was recruited during the rule of Akali-BJP government in 2001.
Won’t spare ‘erring’ politicians’ kin
Will act against relatives of influential people or politicians hired on fake degrees. We will hold them accountable for money they received as wages. — Bhagwant Mann, Chief Minister
A complaint regarding the matter was made in 2018 but no action was initiated against him. Rather, in 2021, the Board of Directors of the bank recommended that since he had already worked for 20 years, he should be let off.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann today said action would be initiated against relatives of “influential” people or politicians in the state, who had been recruited on fake documents/degrees. “Such people will be taken to task. We are going to hold them accountable for the money they received as wages, paid to them from the taxes collected from the people of Punjab,” the CM tweeted.
Sources in the government say many such cases have come to the fore, especially in the Finance and Cooperatives Departments.
Official sources said many officers and politicians had circumvented the rules, allowing their favourites to set up manpower supply companies, to which government jobs were outsourced.
These companies allegedly recruited people, mainly for class IV posts, even if they did not have the required qualification. Many contractual employments made in entities of Cooperatives Department are under the scanner. “Officers who helped in these recruitments will be made answerable,” said a senior functionary.
The government had earlier initiated inquiry against appointments in the Vidhan Sabha where the relatives of ministers, MLAs and officers were recruited during the previous government’s term.
