3 officials sacked, show-cause notice to 22 over MGNREGA recruitment in Ferozepur

Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, February 22

Three officials of the Department of Rural Development and Panchayats have been terminated while FIR has been recommended against another five, including the ADC, after irregularities were allegedly found in recruitment under MGNREGA in the border district.

As per the information, services of two gram rozgar sewaks (GRS), Gurpreet Singh and Jaswinder Singh, have been short-terminated, while those of Assistant Block Coordinator Sameer Sharma have been terminated, after it was found in the enquiry report that they were allegedly allotted fictitious roll numbers and marked absent in the attendance sheet, but selected.

Amandeep Gujral ADC (Development) said the action had been initiated following orders from the Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayats, Rahul Bhandari.

Earlier, an enquiry was conducted by Paramvir Singh, an IAS officer, into recruitment under the MGNREGA during the previous two financial years in the district. The report submitted by him on February 3 revealed several irregularities such as tampering of answer sheets and the final merit list and anomalies in awarding marks. Taking cognisance of the report, the department not only issued charge sheet to the members of the selection committee, comprising the then ADC (Development) Ferozepur, but also asked the SSP Ferozepur, to register FIR against the selection committee comprising Ravinder Pal Singh Sandhu, ADC, Development, Gurmit Singh Dhillon, Deputy CEO, and Rajesh Kansal, XEN, Panchayati Raj, besides two other officials, Anil Palta, District Informatics Officer, and Harpal Singh, District Welfare Officer.

The department has also issued show cause notices to 22 other candidates for irregularities in answer scripts. Sources said if their reply was not satisfactory, their contracts could be terminated.

Ramandeep Sachdeva, District Nodal Officer, MGNREGA, denied the allegations, saying the recruitment was made as per the legal process.

“No wrongdoings have been done during the selection of these candidates. As far as, recruitment of more candidates is concerned, it was done after getting the permission from the head office,” he said.

Sachdeva refuted charges of tempering of answer sheets and merit lists. “The entire examination process was video-graphed,” he said.

On the other hand, the enquiry report stated against 12 posts of GRS, 28 were filled. Also, against four posts of Computer Assistant, eight were recruited, and against one post of Assistant Coordinator, three were allegedly appointed.

No irregularities

The candidates were selected in a transparent manner. The permission was taken to recruit more candidates. The entire examination process was video-graphed. — Ramandeep Sachdeva, District Nodal Officer, MGNREG