Chennai: Following the expose of large-scale scam in the recruitment of lecturers for government polytechnic colleges, the state government on Wednesday held a meeting with top officials to decide the next course of action to be taken against the corrupt elements.
In an exclusive report on Wednesday, Deccan Chronicle highlighted about the major scam unearthed by Teachers Recruitment Board in which 220 candidates found to be qualified in written test with fake marks. The report created shock waves among the academics, administrators and the aspiring candidates.
“The government has taken a bold decision to withdraw the written test results released earlier and released the new marks with original OMR answer sheets.
The mistakes were corrected with original answer sheets,” an official said.
On why no action has been taken so far in the scam, he said, “The government is preparing the ground to take action against the corrupt elements. All those involved in the corruption will surely get punished.”
Of 2,000 candidates who were called for certificate verification over 220 candidates had qualified with fake marks in the test.
Their original marks were inflated from 50 to 100 marks to make them eligible for certificate verification. Each candidate allegedly has paid '25 lakh to '30 lakh to the touts.
Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB) which has found out about the scam reduced marks for these 220 odd candidates after verifying their answer sheets.
N. Pasupathy, vice-president, Association of University Teachers (AUT), has demanded strict action against the culprits who involved in the recruitment scam.
“If any TRB staff found to be involved in the corruption, they should immediately be dismissed from service,” he stressed.“The candidates who have found to be involved in the corrupt practices should be barred from taking part in future competitive exams.
The punitive rules will prevent the candidates from falling prey to the corrupt elements,” he suggested. He further said in the light of a major scam the board should consider conducting the re-exam.
But sources said the government polytechnic colleges have the shortage of staff for more than five years and after the correcting the mistakes the recruitment activities should resume.
“After the reports emerged in the newspapers and social media, why the government agencies are silent on the issue? The directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption should initiate an inquiry into the scam and take strong action against those involved in the racket. The courts should take up the issue as suo-moto case and order probe,” demanded A.R. Nagarajan, adviser of NET SLET Association.
Ramadoss demands detailed inquiry
Expressing shock over the extent of the scam in the recruitment of government polytechnic lecturers, PMK founder Ramadoss on Wednesday has sought a detailed enquiry into the scam and recruitments made in the last 10 years by the Teachers Recruitment Board.
“Though the TRB has thwarted a major corruption racket, we cannot let those involved in the scam to escape. Those involved in the scam should immediately be arrested as over 220 candidates would have lost their chance to become the lecturers,”he demanded.
He also pointed out the huge variation in marks for many candidates in the two lists released by the board.
