The Bharatiya Janata Party government in Chhattisgarh has recommended a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged irregularities in the State Service Examination-2021 held during the previous Congress regime.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Vishnu Deo Sai government held here on Wednesday.
“Cabinet has decided to forward the case of alleged irregularities in the State Service Examination-2021, conducted by Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission, to the Central Bureau of Investigation for thorough investigation. Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission has released the selection list for recruitment on 170 posts in 12 departments under the State Service Examination-2021,” a government statement said.
After questions were raised around the selection of some candidates from the families of government officials and leaders of the (then) ruling Congress in the exam conducted by the Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission or CGPSC, the BJP had flagged the issue in the State election campaign. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had assured the youth of the State that action would be taken in the matter if the BJP government was voted to power.
The party has now welcomed the move.
“There should be fairness, credibility, and transparency in the manner in which competitive examinations of the State, this long-standing demand of the hard-working youth of Chhattisgarh has been fulfilled by the BJP government of the State. The PSC scam was the one in which jobs and students’ dreams were sold and because of this decision, they will get a new hope. We welcome this,” said Ujjwal Deepak, member, Policy and Research cell of Chhattisgarh BJP.
Reacting to the development, the Opposition Congress questioned why the government decided to ask for a CBI probe and wondered if the Sai government did not trust the State police. Notably, the previous State government had withdrawn the general consent for the CBI and BJP leaders recently have spoken about restoring it.
Decisions on paddy, free ration
Meanwhile, in its second cabinet meeting and the first after its expansion, the Sai government took two more decisions. It has decided to procure a maximum of 21 quintals of paddy per acre (including linking) from the farmers of the state at support price in the Kharif marketing year 2023-24 and to distribute free food grains to Antyodaya and ‘priority’ category beneficiaries for the next five years.
“The cabinet has decided to distribute free food grains on Antyodaya and Priority Ration Cards in the state under Chhattisgarh Food and Nutrition Security Act 2012, similar to the distribution under the National Food Security Act-2013 for the next 5 years starting January 2024,” the statement read.
