Times
of India: Chandigarh: Tuesday, 20 January 2015.
Replies to
queries using the RTI Act sought by an unsuccessful candidate has spilled the
beans on the recruitment of drivers by the Haryana Staff Selection Commission
during the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government. The RTI queries
revealed the recruiting agency not only selected candidates who did not possess
the essential qualifications, but the commission also allowed aspirants having
driving licences of two-wheelers as the drivers of officials vehicles.
Supported
with RTI queries procured over a year, candidate Satish has now challenged the
appointments in the Punjab and Haryana high court. The matter will come up for
hearing on January 22 as the court has sought a reply from the Haryana
government in the matter.
Satish has
filed the case along with another aspirant Krishan. "It took us more than
a year to collect the documents under the RTI Act to fight our case. There are
certain candidates who don't fulfill the conditions related to essential
qualifications like holding of valid driving licences," he said.
In February
2008, HSSC had invited applications for the recruitment of 110 drivers to be
posted in various departments, boards and corporations of the state government.
According to advertisement, the candidates should have possessed valid driving
licences of the light transport vehicle (LTV) in addition to experience of 3-5
years as drivers of transport vehicles.
Information
sought through the RTI Act revealed that there were 10 candidates who did not
have valid driving licences. "Those 10 candidates had driving licences of
light motor vehicles (LMVs) which entitled them to drive private or personal
cars. Similarly, the experience certificates furnished by the selected drivers
were found to have been issued after February 2008 after last date of submission
of application forms," said Satish.
Meanwhile,
officials of Haryana transport department and HSSC refused to comment on the
issue saying that the matter was pending before the court.