Assam: CM demands apology from Congress over APSC 'cash-for-job scam' during its rule

Guwahati (Assam) [India], March 4 (ANI): Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has lashed out at the Congress over the alleged 'cash-for-job scam' in the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) exams of 2013 and 2014 under its rule and demanded a apology from the party.
On February 17, the first day of the budget session, CM Sarma tabled the report of the Justice (Retd) Biplab Kumar Sharma-led one-man inquiry commission on the alleged irregularities and malpractices in the 2013 and 2014 CCE exams of APSC.
"I want the Assam Congress to tender an apology before the youths of the state for the appointment of Rakesh Paul. They must render a public apology that it was a mistake during our (Congress) tenure, and if we come to power again, then we will not do it again," the CM said during the ongoing budget session of the Assam Legislative Assembly on Monday.
The house should collectively express its gratitude to Sarbananda Sonowal (former Assam Chief Minister), who initiated strict proceedings against APSC irregularities, he said.
"For the first time in contemporary history, the Chairman of the Public Service Commission and all his accomplices were sent behind bars. The BJP government set a precedent by sending the sitting chairman of the APSC and his team to jail. In our government, meritorious students get government jobs, unlike during Congress rule, when ministers' kin were favored," the Assam Chief Minister added.
He further stated that transparency had been brought to all levels of government recruitment in Assam, from APSC to Grade IV posts.
The committee report revealed that then-Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had given notes in favor of Rakesh Paul's appointment as a member of APSC, following which he was later appointed as its chairman.
"The then Congress government bent every rule in the book to appoint Rakesh Paul as Chairman of APSC, ruining the lives of lakhs of youths. Rakesh Paul met the then Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, and on September 6, 2008, he submitted an application requesting to be made a member of the Public Service Commission. Today, if someone comes to me with such a request, I would shut the case. He didn't provide any qualifications or background but wrote in the application that he was a senior advocate of the Guwahati High Court. Tarun Gogoi wrote on the application as 'may be considered,'" Sarma said.
"This is recorded in the files. After receiving that remark, the application was immediately processed, and within just 24 days, by September 30, 2008, the file had gone through all the necessary steps and reached the Chief Minister, the Governor, and Rakesh Paul was appointed. No one cross-checked whether Rakesh Paul was a senior advocate of the Guwahati High Court or not. Later, it was discovered that he was a notary public, not a senior advocate. How was the Congress government running? Rakesh Paul served as a member of the Public Service Commission for five years, from 2008 to 2013. In 2013, Tarun Gogoi himself wrote to the Chief Secretary, recommending Rakesh Paul be appointed as Chairman of APSC as the post was vacant," Sarma added. (ANI)