Under fire from the opposition over the recruitment scam in Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC), Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday said that curbing corruption is the main goal of his government and if any officer or employee is found involved in corruption, strict action will be taken against him.
“During our government, jobs will never be allowed to run on ‘Parchi aur Kharchi’. Earlier, some people's representatives used to claim that they have given many government jobs in their area, but today no one can make such claims. Rather, people are now getting jobs on the basis of their qualification in Haryana,” Khattar said while talking to the mediapersons here.
Responding to a question on arrest of HPSC Deputy Secretary Anil Nagar, who is HCS officer and recovery of huge money and revelations related to recruitment scam, the Chief Minister said that inquiry is going on in case. Money has not been recovered from HPSC premises but from residence of the accused, he said.On opposition's demand to conduct an inquiry under monitoring of Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Chief Minister said that government is working to punish those who indulge in corruption. The State Vigilance Bureau is capable of conducting an inquiry into this and we have faith in our investigating bodies, he said.
Attacking the opposition—Congress, Khattar said that only 7-8 FIRs were registered during Congress’ tenure related to such scams. Those involved in such recruitment scams either came out on bail or no action was taken against them during the previous regime.
The Opposition did not fight against corruption. On other hand, we arrested 48 people in a paper leak case related to police constable and connections related to paper mafia in Hyderabad, Jammu and Kashmir, Noida were uncovered. We have also cancelled exam due to leak, he said.
The Chief Minister further said that if anyone gets any information related to corruption in jobs or departments, then they should immediately inform Vigilance.
“People are getting jobs in government on basis of merit. To ensure that youth of poor families get proper representation in jobs, government has decided to award them five additional marks. Since jobs are being given on merit basis, students are getting attracted towards studies and preparing for competitive examinations in the state,” he added.
Notably, Anil Nagar, a 2016-batch HCS officer, who was posted as HPSC deputy secretary in March 2021 was arrested by Vigilance Bureau for tampering with marks of candidates of dental surgeons’ exam. The FIR was registered on November 17, after Naveen Kumar, a government employee, was caught red-handed while accepting Rs 20 lakh.
Haryana Cabinet meeting on Nov 25
Haryana cabinet meeting will be held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on November 25. Among the key agendas of the cabinet will be deciding the date for convening the winter session of the State Assembly.
In December, a special session of Haryana Assembly will be convened under initiative ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ to commemorate 75 years of Independence. The session will be inaugurated by country's Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu.
