The premier investigating agency has received complaints of serious irregularities in selection of ACMs
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Chennai: Recruitment scams continue unabated with the appointment of assistant commercial managers (ACMs) in southern railway (SR) being the latest case on the CBI radar. The premier investigating agency has received complaints of serious irregularities in selection of ACMs under LDCE (limited departmental competitive exam) this year.
The complaint, copy of which Deccan Chronicle accessed from CBI sources, sent in the name All SC/ST ACM Aspirants is against a few senior officials in SR zone, including a chief commercial manager, who has been accused of favouring SC candidate Srividya, currently serving as senior advertisement inspector, and recommended by her deputy.
Though the unending acrimony between SRMU and the chief commercial manager, which worsened recently after he/she stonewalled the union and backed his/her deputies on transfer issues, would tempt one to treat the complaint as motivated, the choice of second SC candidate had raised more suspicion.
It was learnt from the complaint, which is understood to have been sent three weeks before the results of the exams were declared on July 21, 2015, and interactions with SR insiders that the second Dalit candidate, one chief ticketing inspector Pillaikani from Tiruchy, may have been 'backed' by SRMU, thanks to Tiruchy union functionary Veerasekaran, a close aide of union top brass who got it done for him.
Curiously, the two persons mentioned in the complaint were the only two SC candidates declared as passed after securing "required qualifying marks in each of the two 150-mark exams conducted on June 6, 2015'.
The anonymous complainant has also named a senior serving officer in Bangalore division who acted as officer on special duty to former railway minister Mallikarjuna Kharge of influencing the ACM appointments in 2013 under LDCE category.
Likewise, nine railway officers, including a couple of retired ones, have been accused of acting as agents in the ACM appointment scam, which also points to a high placed bureaucrat at the office of chairman of railway board, New Delhi. Incidentally, the SC/ST employees association has received an acknowledgement for the complaint from the railway board, while the vigilance wing of the SR, another recipient is yet to act on the complaint, which also comprises names of over a dozen serving officers who had allegedly obtained promotions by jumping the queue.
Background check run by DC revealed that not all on the list might have gained backdoor entry. "Contents of the complaint cannot be treated as impossible. A third of the cases (names) mentioned in the list may be true," a highly placed SR officer requesting anonymity said refusing to divulge more details. Meanwhile, the 16 candidates who had passed the exam (including the two SC candidates) and 24 SC candidates chosen as best among the failures for the viva voce have been made to undergo the medical tests since last weekend. Repeated attempts to reach the CCM in person and over phone proved futile.
In another case
Controversies in ACM appointment are not new in Southern Railway. A chief commercial inspector Jayakumar had dragged SR to the Central Administrative Tribunal (Madras bench) over treatment of ACM as “safety category”, which reportedly denied him chance under “best among failure” clause in 2011. While SR considers the railway board letter (no: 2004-E (SCT)1/25/20) dated July 31, 2013 as the basis for selection of best among failures under LDCE, clarifications sent by RB in 2009 were understood to have enough material to treat ACM appointment, if done stream wise, as non-safety category.
Incidentally, SR has only applied the non safety category as per the 2013 communique from RB to invite 24 SC candidates (best among failures) for the viva voce to be held very shortly.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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