The issue of paper leaks in the government recruitment examinations during the previous Congress regime rocked the Rajasthan Assembly on Tuesday, with a demand made for handing over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The BJP government has appointed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the matter.
Rashtriya Loktantrik Party MLA Hanuman Beniwal raised the issue through a question, to which Health Minister Gajendra Singh replied that two big exams had taken place after the new BJP government took over, and no irregularities were reported in any of them. Replying on behalf of the Home Minister, Mr. Singh said five exam papers had leaked in 2021, 10 in 2022 and five in 2023.
When Mr. Beniwal insisted that a CBI probe be ordered into the matter, Mr. Singh said further action would be taken after the completion of the task given to the SIT. “Since the investigation is being handled by the SIT, any further probe may be handed over to the CBI if the agencies deem it appropriate,” he said.
The Minister said the charge-sheets had been filed in the courts in 32 of the 33 paper leak cases registered since 2014 and 615 persons arrested in them. The accused included 49 government officials, mostly teachers, and 11 of them had been dismissed from service, Mr. Singh said. The action in one case has been put on hold following a stay order of the Rajasthan High Court.
The House witnessed noisy scenes when Congress MLA Govind Singh Dotasra, who is also the Pradesh Congress president, asked about the paper leak cases between 2008 and 2013 when the BJP was in power. While the treasury members took exception to the question, Mr. Singh said the sole case in which the charge sheet was yet to be filed was related to a coaching centre in Sikar.
Opposition MLAs walk out
The Opposition MLAs later staged a walkout on the issue of discontinuation of the Rajiv Gandhi Yuva Mitra internship programme by the State government. Congress MLA Rohit Bohra said about 5,000 Yuva Mitras engaged by the previous government had been discontinued and the programme suspended, which should be resumed without delay.
Yuva Mitras were engaged to create awareness about the government’s welfare schemes and services and were given stipends. Bharat Adivasi Party MLA Rajkumar Roat said that the affected youth were staging a protest in Jaipur and their families were suffering.
Leader of Opposition Tika Ram Jully and other Congress legislators demanded a reply from the government, but Speaker Vasudev Devnani refused to allow them to further raise the matter in the House. After this, the Congress MLAs walked out of the Assembly in protest.
