Vigilance to probe EOs’ recruitment

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 21

Yet another decision of the previous Congress Government headed by Bhupinder Singh Hooda is under the Vigilance scanner. The State Vigilance Bureau (SVB) has registered a regular inquiry in connection with alleged irregularities in the recruitment of estate officers in the Haryana Urban Development Authority(HUDA) by the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) in 2013.

The inquiry would be conducted by Rajinder Kumar, Deputy Inspector-General, SVB, Panchkula, official sources said here today.

He said the SVB had already written to the HPSC Secretary and the HUDA Chief Administrator to hand over the entire records related to the matter.

The recruitment process for the five estate officers, a gazetted post, was completed by the HPSC in 2013 before the 2014 parliamentary and state assembly elections. The inquiry followed complaints regarding irregularities in the selection process, sources said.

In fact, this probe come close on the heels of the formation of a commission of inquiry to probe grant of licence(s) to some entities, including Robert Vadra’s company, for developing commercial colonies in Sector 83 of Gurgaon about a week back.

Similarly, about a fortnight ago, the Khattar Government had also ordered a vigilance inquiry into the allotment of 11 industrial plots by the previous Congress government in the Industrial Estate, Panchkula, in December 2011 to alleged “undeserving candidates”.

Earlier, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has ordered vigilance inquiries into several decisions of the previous government, including alleged irregularities in the construction of Kaushalya Dam in Panchkula and alleged MNREGA scam in Ambala.

Sources said more vigilance inquiries were in the offing as a large number of complaints about large-scale nepotism were pending with the state government. Notably, the Khattar Government recently put on hold the recruitment process for various jobs in different government departments, including the police.