The decision of the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to suspend the former secretary of the Uttarakhand Subordinate Service Selection Commission (UKSSSC) Santosh Badoni in the examination paper leak case and his letter to the Vidhan Sabha Speaker Ritu Khanduri requesting her to order a high level inquiry in the controversial appointments in Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha is being viewed an attempt to salvage the image of his government. With these measures, the CM has tried to convey the message to the people of the State and to the leaders of his party that he would continue to follow the zero tolerance on corruption formula.
In his letter to Khanduri, the CM had stated that since Vidhan Sabha is an autonomous constitutional body having great dignity maintaining its solemnity should be a priority.
In the examination paper leak case of the UKSSSC, the Dhami government acted swiftly to order a Special Task Force (STF) investigation. The STF has arrested 32 persons till date in the case. The Dhami government had sought the resignation of the chairman of the commission S Raju and sent its secretary Santosh Badoni back to the State secretariat when the scam was unearthed. In the wake of the new revelation of the STF the State government has now suspended Badoni.
In the controversial appointment case of Uttarakhand Vidhan the image of the Dhami government was affected by the disclosure that in the appointments done by the Prem Chand Agarwal during his tenure as speaker many people having links with ruling BJP and RSS were able to get ad hoc appointments in Vidhan Sabha secretariat.
The list of 72 appointments during the tenure of Agarwal included the names of the Public Relation Officers (PROs) of the ministers, relatives of the Officers on Special Duty (OSDs) of the CM and the senior functionaries of BJP and RSS.
Amid the furore generated by the appointments of favour in Vidhan Sabha , former chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat's statement that he was in favour of transparent system of appointments in Vidhan Sabha and had stated on the file of recruitment proposal that appointments should be made by the commission, put the Dhami government under pressure. The opposition Congress too was raising its vociferous protest in these appointments and its former president Rahul Gandhi was attacking the State government for the recruitment scams.
Experts are of the view that after the action on the former secretary of UKSSSC and the CM's letter to Vidhan Sabha speaker, Dhami in consultation with the party high command can go for reshuffle of his cabinet in which he can drop some ministers.
Senior journalist Yogesh Bhatt told The Pioneer that the decision to suspend the former secretary is appreciable but added that it should have been done earlier. He said that the government should suspend the UKSSSC itself to restore the confidence of the people affected by recruitment scams.
