Trusted, tested. Failed

So many exam papers conducted for Punjab government posts have been leaked. Dozens of people have been arrested. No conclusive proof has so far emerged. Things have come to such a pass that no institution is ready to conduct tests on Punjab’s behalf. What ails the system? What will happen to hundreds of genuine candidates?

Investigators from Punjab Vigilance Bureau raid a place for clues into the recent leakage of exam papers for recruitment to various posts in the state. Tribune photo

Jupinderjit Singh in Chandigarh

Amit Kumar and several of his friends in Ludhiana were agog at the prospect of getting a government job via a recruitment exam due in November last year for nearly 700 different posts in the Department of Local Bodies. “It will be a fair exam,” he heard Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal repeating several times in the media.

A year later, the fate of the exam and that of genuine candidates like Amit, hangs in the balance. The exam stands scrapped as the Punjab Vigilance Bureau has claimed that the question papers were leaked. Not only that, the Vigilance investigation claims to have unearthed similar malpractices in two previous exams -- the ones held by PUNSUP-The Punjab State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited and the GMADA-Greater Mohali Area Development Authority, for the post of inspectors and junior engineers.

Vigilance sleuths claim to have found evidence that the preliminary exam papers for the post of patwaris were leaked. Only last week, the Vigilance team led by AIG Surjeet Singh busted a linked module which leaked test papers of sub-division engineers of the state irrigation department held on October 16.

The list doesn’t end there: 12 recruitment exams held in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar besides a countrywide test for the post of constables for a paramilitary force were also rigged. Nearly 70 persons, including about 60 candidates and some conduits from Bihar, Haryana and UP have been arrested. Two local-level politicians of Punjab are also in the net for collusion involving leakage of test papers and organising special classes for the beneficiary candidates.

While the Vigilance is busy investigating and arresting candidates and conduits, the key accused seem to have no fear. Last week they conspired to leak a question paper meant for the post at SDE-Irrigation. The investigation is called the Toppers Scandal as all the candidates nabbed had emerged in top 20 of various exams. Such was the audaciousness of some of the candidates-turned-top conduits such as Amandeep Singh and his friend Sukhpreet Singh of Muktsar that they took exams for local bodies and PUNSUP department among others and emerged toppers.

“So far nearly Rs 70 lakh has been recovered from those arrested,” said Inspector Satwant Singh, a member of the investigation team. DGP Vigilance Suresh Arora and IG-Vigilance V. Neerja are being briefed daily about the progress in the investigation. “No one will be spared,” says Arora.

“We have lost faith in the system. Is there any foolproof way?” asks Amit in sheer desperation. About a month ago, the government asked many candidates like Amit to re-fill the forms for a fresh exam for posts in the local bodies. They were exempt from the entrance fee as compensation. A fresh exam date is yet to be fixed. With Assembly elections round the corner, Amit and his friends have lost all hopes.

The Punjab government has a history of failed recruitment exams. From the infamous case during the Punjab Civil Services Exam led by its chairman Ravi Sidhu in the late 1990s to recent exams, there have been a dozen leakages of question papers denting the image of the state government. The SAD-BJP government early last year embarked on a major project to provide recruitment to one lakh youth and advertised posts. For fair selection, it handed the exams to agencies or universities outside Punjab. The Panjab University, Chandigarh, was entrusted with the exam for local bodies, but it failed to prevent the leakage. The investigation revealed that other exams conducted by the Thapar University or the Gurur Nanak Dev University suffered the same fate. The state government last week invited Delhi University among others for conducting the exams, but they have refused.

It was in February this year that the Vigilance Bureau Punjab first began working on the scam. Sources say a Malout-based man complained to the Chief Minister at a Sangat Darshan about the availability of recruitment exam paper for Rs 12 lakh. The vigilance conducted a preliminary inquiry and concluded that the complaint was genuine.

Vigilance sources say the accused charged anything between Rs 10 and 20 lakh per candidate for the question paper. They allegedly restricted the number of such candidates to about 25 only, thus making over Rs 2 crore at least. The candidates were called to Lucknow a few days before the exam in November last year. The candidates were asked to cram up the question paper to preempt any documentary proof.

But for the greed of some candidates, the leakage would have gone unnoticed. “Many candidates such as Amandeep Singh and Sukhpreet Singh and later the two local level politicians became conduits. They paid Rs 10 lakh to the Lucknow or Bihar-based kingpins but took Rs 2-3 lakh from desperate candidates. The word about it was also leaked.

During investigation, Vigilance officials asked some of the first 20 toppers of the recruitment exam for the post of sub-divisional officers with the state local bodies department to write their statement in English. None of them could write a single sentence.

It is still a mystery as to who leaked the exam papers. The needle of suspicion is on some PU staff, who along with a well-oiled racket leaked the paper to a select few. The Vigilance Bureau also suspects printing press employees.

Leak factory