Assam against giving jobs back to arrested officers

Assam government has requested Gauhati high court against giving jobs back to 43 gazetted officers, who were dismissed for their alleged involvement in the "cash-for-jobs scam" in Assam Public Service Commission (APSC).

The alleged multi-crore jobs scam in APSC received national headlines and was even compared with Madhya Pradesh's Vyapam scam.

Supreme Court lawyer and BJP leader, Nalin S Kohli, who appeared in the high court on behalf of the state government said on Tuesday that they referred to the precedents set in some judgements by the apex court in the past, while urging the court to reject the petitions filed by the accused seeking their jobs back. "We pleaded before the high court that those who admitted before police that they had bribed the APSC members for jobs should not be given their jobs back.

The court will hear the case again on July 30," Kohli said. Another Supreme Court lawyer Maninder Singh also appeared on behalf of the state government.

At least 74 accused including chairman of the commission, Rakesh Kumar Paul and two other members have been arrested in connection with the case registered in 2016.

Except for Paul, all are out on bail now. All 43 gazetted officers, including civil service and police service officers, including the daughter of a former BJP MP and son of a former Congress minister, were arrested following forensic analysis of their answer scripts.

They were subsequently dismissed from their services. They, however, submitted a petition in the high court recently with a plea to reinstate them in the jobs.

A CBI inquiry is underway against Paul's assets while the high court recently asked the Assam government to institute a judicial inquiry into the jobs scam within a month.