The Centre has decided to dismiss suspended Haryana Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer Sanjiv Kumar, who was convicted in the Junior Basic Training (JBT) teachers’ recruitment scam, from service.
The department of personnel and training (DoPT) has conveyed to the Haryana government its decision to terminate the services of the 1985 batch IAS officer under article 311 of the Constitution following his conviction, according to sources.
Kumar, former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala and several other officials, were convicted and sentenced by a Delhi court in 2013 for irregularities in the recruitment of 3,206 JBT teachers in primary education department of the state in 1999-2000. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had carried out the probe into the case.
An official, however, said the Union ministry of personnel and public grievances has conveyed its decision last week, but the final order may take some more time, as a representation had been received from the suspended IAS officer in connection with the dismissal process.
The controversial bureaucrat, who hails from Bihar, has created a record of sorts, albeit a dubious one, for being under suspension for the past 15 years. The officer was suspended on December 4, 2001, after he fell out with the then Chautala government over the JBT selections. The officer had moved the Supreme Court, claiming to have blown the lid over the recruitment scam as a ‘whistleblower’.
Accusing the then government of starting inquiries against him out of “vindictiveness”, he had submitted two lists of teachers, one “genuine” and the other “fake”. The IAS officer had alleged that he was being targeted as he had not made the selections from the “fake” list containing the names of candidates pushed by the political brass. However, he was found to have been involved in the “irregular” recruitment by the CBI and convicted in the case.
[sOURCE:-ht]
