Kanpur recruitment scam: MoD order to not appoint officers named in case goes for a toss

By Anand Singh

New Delhi, March 31 (SocialNews.XYZ) The 2018 Ministry of Defence (MoD) order asking officials not to depute any of the officials named in the Kanpur defence recruitment case on any crucial post till the time investigations are complete, has gone for a toss. One of the main accused in the case was given additional charge of Controller in the Material Division of the Controllerate of Quality Assurance or CQA(M).

According to documents accessed by IANS, S. K. Tiwari, the main accused named in the defence recruitment case, who is posted as Deputy Controller at CQA(M), Kanpur, was given additional charge of Controller for a day on March 10 this year after Controller Gurbachan Singh went on leave.

The MoD, in an order dated August 31, 2018 has stated that "it is requested that MoD/D(QA) may be apprised of the latest position in the matter at your end".

"Till the completion of investigation, ADGQA (S) may like to advise Estts to exercise restraint while entrusting sensitive duties or responsibilities to officers involved in the recruitment process, including sensitive posts, which require absolute integrity," the MoD order read.

It further stated that "ADGQA (S) may also like to issue necessary instructions to their Estts to keep all the documents pertaining to ibid Recruitment in which CBI inquiry has been ordered, in safe custody".

IANS tried to reach the MoD for a comment for the story. However, the ministry official said that he did not have any information regarding the same.

The CBI has named Tiwari, who was the presiding officer of the recruitment board and beneficiaries Ravi Kant Pandey, Utkarsh Srivatsava, Arti Gupta, Pratibha Mishra and Arpit Singh and other unknown persons in the case it registered in December last year.

When contacted, Tiwari told IANS, "I had taken the additional charge for a day."

He further stated that the he has not anything wrong and the CBI will find out the entire truth.

Tiwari said, "I have shared all my bank statements and details of my properties with the CBI. And I am confident that after the CBI probe I will be vindicated."

The case relates to recruitment drive for six posts of Lower Division Clerk (LDC) in the Directorate General of Quality Assurance which comes under the Union Ministry of Defence. For this purpose, advertisements were issued in 2015 and appointments were made in 2017.

An internal inquiry committee headed by Brigadier Sudhindra Itnal had found serious irregularities in the recruitment process. Following the submission of a report in this regard, the recruitment board itself was dissolved by the competent authority and the services of the appointed LDCs were terminated on November 28, 2018.

In a letter to the CBI on August 10, 2018, the Department of Defence Production (DDP) mentioned "serious irregularities" of a criminal nature concerning the appointment of six LDCs in 2016 by the now-dissolved recruitment board in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur. This letter was sent to the apex investigative agency on the orders of Minister of State for Defence, Subhash Bhamre who acted on the advice of the Central Vigilance Commission.

The CBI had done a preliminary enquiry (PE) against Tiwari, Sunil Kumar, SSO-II, CQA (M) Kanpur (member) and Mohammad Alim, AE (QA), SQAE (GS), Kanpur (Member) and Colonel A.K. Gandhi, Joint Controller, CQA (M), CQA (GS) and CQA (T&C), Kanpur in 2020.

In its FIR, the CBI said, during PE, it was revealed that there were manipulations done in the selection process by Tiwari, who altered the marks obtained by candidates at the time of rechecking.

It alleged that Tiwari was also involved in evaluation of answer sheets of written exam wherein he evaluated overwritten answer sheets in contravention of the instructions of the DGCA.

It also pointed out that the alteration was done by Tiwari and some of the answers of the selected candidates were also changed by him after the evaluation. The answer sheets were re-checked by Tiwari and during rechecking he altered the final marks of the candidates without the knowledge of concerned invigilators.

Source: IANS