Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Now selection of drivers challenged before HC

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.