Recruitments lacked transparency before I became CM: Chouhan on Vyapam scam

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that recruitments to various posts in the state were "100 per cent fraudulent" and "unjust" before he took over and that his tenure saw just 1,700 cases of irregularities.

Chouhan, who yesterday completed 12 years as chief minister of MP, was recently cleared by the CBI in the Vyapam scam case.

"In my 12 years stint, lakhs of recruitments have taken place (in different government departments via Vyapam) but irregularities came to the fore in 1,700 cases," Chouhan told PTI in an interview.

Asked about the virtual clean chit he got from the CBI in the scam, in which the Congress dragged his name, the BJP stalwart said, "I do not want to go into the details but I want to explain in brief that before Vyapam, the recruitments to different posts lacked transparency."

Citing the case of recruitments of police constables, he said they were done by inspectors general of police and superintendents of police without any written test.

"They did all. 100 per cent fraud took place," alleged Chouhan.

Collectors and deputy collectors recruited patwaris (lower rung revenue officials). There was no systematic system in recruitment. Teachers were employed by janpads and panchayats (in rural areas), he pointed out.

Chouhan claimed the recruitments that took place (in government departments) before he became the chief minister were "100 per cent fraudulent and unjust while during his tenure it was just 1,700 out of lakhs."

"I made a system with written tests and the one based on merits," he said.

He said the Vyapam conducted these tests and came out with a system.

"Some irregularities took place, but how much? They were 1,700 in the recruitment of lakhs of people in my 12 year tenure," said the chief minister, who had the longest tenure on the top post in the state's history.

He said those who tampered with the system and committed irregularities have paid for it.

Further, referring to the Pre-Medical Test (PMT), Chouhan said the private medical colleges not only in MP but in different states conducted their own tests.

"If you check their transparency, it will be 100 per cent based on money exchanging hands," he claimed.

The money, he said, "exchanged hands under the table and the wealthy cracked the PMT."

He said his government brought an Act forbidding private colleges to take admission tests.

"We routed the admissions to private medical colleges through PMT," he said, adding the colleges opposed it and went to the high court and the Supreme Court which upheld the MP government's decision.

"Now, in it (PMT) a new (cheating) system of solvers (those who write papers for others) was introduced (by racketeers)," he said.

"This racket was exposed. To sum up, the Vyapam (scam) was an attempt to purge the system," Chouhan said.

The chief minister said the Congress puts the blame for all irregularities on him and now "at the end the truth has come to the fore."

Asserting that action has been taken in wrongdoings, he said, "After the Vyapam scam, I have decided that now onwards PMT will be conducted on scores of NEET (National Eligibility Entrance Test and PET by JEE (Joint Entrance Examination)."

The CBI, in its charge sheet filed before a special court last month, had said that the forensic analysis of the hard disc drives seized from Nitin Mohindra, an official at the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board or Vyapam, by the state police showed that no files having letters 'CM' were ever stored in them.

The central agency rejected the allegations of tampering with the hard disc, which was being considered as a crucial piece of evidence in the multi-crore recruitment scam, alleged by Congress leader Digvijay Singh and whistleblower Prashant Pandey. PTI LAL MAS GK DV