Lecturers' recruitment scam: Each candidate paid Rs 25 to Rs 30 lakh to agents

Chennai: The candidates who had qualified with the fake marks in polytechnic lecturers’ exam have allegedly paid Rs 25 lakhs to Rs 30 lakhs to agents, according to the sources. Though the racket involved candidates from all the districts, a majority of them are from districts like Salem, Erode and Namakkal. A rough estimate reveals that around Rs 50 crore might have been collected from the candidates under the false promise of lecturer jobs.

Members of the Facebook group called TRB Government Polytechnic Lecturer Recruitment have posted the details of the candidates who have qualified for certificate verification with forged marks. “We had a doubt from the beginning as no toppers were qualified. But, we have no proof and were planning to approach the courts. The board has earlier released the candidates and marks details in PDF format. We all were shocked when we compared the present marks with the older marks as more than 220 candidates had fake marks”, one of the members of the group told Deccan Chronicle.

“Almost in every branch, more than 10% of the candidates were qualified with the fake marks”, one of the members of the group told DC. In the Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) branch, of 182 candidates called for CV almost 70 candidates had qualified with fake marks. Out of 438 candidates in the Mechanical stream, more than 50 candidates came with forged marks.

Electronics and Communication Engineering, Computer Science Engineering also had candidates around 30-40 with fake marks.

Teachers Recruitment Board which has proactively responded to the issue by conducting the inquiry and withdrawing the results. It also took the bold decision to release all the 1.33 lakh answer scripts in public domain. “We will inquire how the breach has happened in the recruitment system. Those who have meddled with the recruitment will be exposed”, a top official from the board told DC. He further said not even one qualified person would be affected. “We are trying to put up the new protocol for future recruitments. The board has the original answer scripts and anyone who tries to manipulate the marks will be caught”, he said.

But a few questions remain unanswered. Who are involved in the scam? How were the marks manipulated? Whether the unscrupulous elements have any nexus with TRB staff? Why has no police complaint been filed so far?For such a scam not to recur, the state government should initiate a probe as to how such a major scam happened in teachers' recruitment, which until recently had a high reputation for its transparent and fair selection.