MP Patwari recruitment: CM Shivraj puts appointments on hold amid scam allegations

Bhopal, July 13 Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday put the appointment of Patwaris (Revenue Officers) on hold after scores of job aspirants staged protests alleging irregularities in the recruitment process.

The state Employees Selection Borad (ESB) has released the merit list on June 30, in which seven out of the top ten scorers took their exams at the NRI College, Gwalior. The college reportedly has strong links with BJP MLA Sanjeev Kushwaha. This raised doubts on the recruitment process.

Suspicion of scam was also raised over the "unusual" pattern in the answersheets of these seven toppers wherein the candidates signed their examination forms in Hindi but answered the question papers in English.

The Congress has been raising the issue since past couple of days to corner the ruling BJP in the poll-bound state.

"Doubts are being expressed on results of one of the centres in group-2 , sub-group-4 and Patwari recruitment examination. I am putting the appointments made on the basis of this examination on hold. The result of the centre will be re-examined," Chouhan tweeted on Thursday evening.

State Congress President Kamal Nath has been vocal over the issue since the merit list of selected candidates were issued. On Thursday, party's central leadership also joined the attack and demanded a probe into the matter.

Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi and party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi also hit out at the BJP-led state government while raising doubts on the recruitment process.

"Once again there are reports of scam in recruitment under the rule of BJP government of Madhya Pradesh... why is the government shying away from conducting an inquiry? Why only the names of BJP leaders keep cropping up for their alleged involvement in recruitment scams?... Why is the BJP government putting the future of lakhs of youth in darkness?" Priyanka Gandhi tweeted earlier in the day.

Former Chief Minister Kamal Nath, while seeking "justice" for the aspirants, "advised" the Chief Minister to leave the "mentality of covering up every case of corruption and scam".

"The way rigging and scams are coming to the fore in every competitive and recruitment examination in Madhya Pradesh it is natural for the hardworking students to be agitated. I want to tell the Chief Minister that he should understand this discontent and anger of the youth" he said.

Congress leader Arun Yadav was the first who alleged "irregularities" in the recruitment process. The examination was conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Employees Selection Board (ESB) - formerly known as the Professional Examination Board (PEB) or the Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal (Vyapam).

Subsequently scores of job aspirants staged a massive protest at Indore District Collectors office and demanded an investigation into the alleged irregularities. The protesters alleged that there have been irregularities in the examination and the results have been rigged.