Pushkar Singh Dhami asks officials to cancel all UKSSSC exams after irregularities surface

Dehradun: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has asked officials to cancel all recruitment examinations where irregularities have been detected by authorities and start the selection process afresh.

The order was issued by Dhami while reviewing the status of the ongoing probe into the Uttarakhand Subordinate Services Selection Commission (UKSSSC) recruitment scam here on Wednesday.

"All examinations in which there is evidence of irregularities should be cancelled and the selection process should be started afresh," Dhami said at the meeting attended by senior officials including Chief Secretary S S Sandhu, DGP Ashok Kumar and Additional Chief Secretary Radha Raturi.

He asked the Special Task Force (STF), investigating the case, to expedite the probe, identify and arrest the guilty, confiscate their illegal property and take action against them under the Gangster Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The chief minister said corrupt or illegal activity of any kind cannot be tolerated.

Appointments of tainted people recruited through examinations held in an unfair manner should be cancelled and action should be taken against them as per the law, he said.

However, the examinations being held fairly should be concluded on time, he added.

Dhami said a new chairman of the UKSSSC should be appointed soon so that it functions properly.

Recruitment to vacancies in different departments should be made in a clean and transparent manner, he said.

The STF has so far arrested 22 people, including eight government employees, in connection with the UKSSSC recruitment scam.

Investigations have revealed that the accused took Rs 12-15 lakh from each candidate in exchange for a solved question paper.

The graduation-level exams, in which wrongdoings have been detected, were conducted by the UKSSSC on December 4 and 5 last year in three sittings. A total of 1,60,000 candidates had appeared in the examinations, of which 916 had qualified.