Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court has issued a notice to the Assam government seeking its response within four weeks on a public interest litigation (PIL) on the selection process of Combined Competitive Examinations (CCE) 2013 conducted by APSC.
A bench of Chief Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice Devashis Baruah issued the notice to the Assam government after accepting the PIL on June 16.
Social activists Pritom Hazarika and Jon Jyoti Sarmah on behalf of Fight Against Injustice in APSC filed a PIL through their counsel MK Choudhury seeking direction from the Gauhati High Court to act upon the Inquiry Report submitted on April 2, 2022, by Justice B.K. Sharma Commission of Inquiry in respect of malpractices in CCE 2013.
The petitioners further made a plea before High Court to direct the Assam government to make the report of the Judicial Inquiry Commission public.
The Justice (retired) Biplab Kumar Sharma Commission, which was formed following directions from Gauhati high court, submitted its report in April 2022 on the anomalies in CCE-2013.
The Commission in its report accused 36 selected candidates of indulging in misconduct in exams.
In May last year, the Assam government constituted a committee to decide on the action to be taken in connection with the inquiry report submitted by Justice (Retired) Biplab Kr Sarma relating to the conduct of civil service examinations 2012 (CCE-2013).
The panel was asked to examine the inquiry commission report and suggest whether the entire results of the CCE-2013 be set aside and in case such a recommendation is made, whether the candidates would be entitled to notice and consequential hearings following the basic principles of natural justice.
The committee was asked to submit its report within two months. However, it has not submitted its recommendations till today.
The APSC cash-for-job scam came to light in 2016 when several successful candidates including Assam Civil Service (ACS) and Assam Police Service (APS) officers who appeared in CCE, 2013 were alleged to have indulged in misconduct allegedly in collusion with the then APSC chairman Rakesh Paul.
Following the revelations, police arrested 60 serving ACS & APS officers from the CCE, 2013 batch.
After the detection of anomalies, 39 officers were also dismissed. The terminated officers as well as Rakesh Paul, who was arrested in 2016, are currently out on bail.