Jammu, March 10: The Central Administrative Tribunal(CAT), Jammu Bench has dismissed two petitions filed by 27 employees of the Fire and Emergency Services, J&K.
The Division Bench comprising Judicial Member, Rajinder Dogra and Administrative Member, Ram Mohan Johri held that it is a big scam in which jobs were sold and purchased by the petitioners, so the whole process is tainted and it has eroded the faith of the general public in the system.
The facts of the case is that the process of the recruitment was held in the year 2020 by a private agency which conducted the test and there was mass tampering of the answer sheets where the marks were changed, awarding more marks to the failed candidates, resulting in their selection.
Consequently, there was a mass agitation in the J&K against this process of recruitment, so the Government sent this matter to Anti-Corruption Bureau, J&K and ACB scrutinized the OMR/answer sheets of 600 selected candidates and identified 106 persons who were the beneficiaries of this scam.
On the recommendation of ACB they were thrown out.
Subsequently, 27 candidates approached the CAT by way of filing these 2 petitions and rest approached CAT Srinagar. After hearing both the parties, the Court has come to the conclusion that it is a big scam, however, since it is possible to segregate the bad apples from the good ones, so the persons who were the beneficiaries of the tainted recruitment process would be separated and the action of the Government of terminating the services of such candidates has been held right.
The Court has also taken serious notes that a recruitment scam of such a magnitude could not have taken place without direct or indirect involvement of the government officials who were in connivance with the recruiting agency, so such people cannot be allowed to go scot-free as it would erode the faith of the General Public in System.
Accordingly, the Court, in order to restore faith of the people, directed that penal and demonstrative action be taken against the erring officials, middlemen and other persons found involved in this huge scam.
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