Vigilance Probe Reveals Grave Irregularities In Internal Exam
Lucknow: The vigilance department has lodged an FIR in connection with irregularities in the examination conducted in 2004 for departmental promotion to the post of junior engineer for the operational staff in the electricity department.
In the FIR, then deputy secretary of Electricity Service Commission RK Ram, engineer BK Srivastava, DGM and member engineer Lal Chandra, VC Joshi, executive engineer Alok Verma and Sarita Mishra of the examination conducting agency and several candidates have been named. The accused have been booked under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and charges of Prevention of Corruption Act.
The vigilance department completed the investigation and sent its report to the government on February 23, 2023. According to the report, the process for departmental promotion to 863 posts of junior engineers got underway on November 13, 2003. While the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) conducted the examination in Varanasi, Lucknow, Meerut and Agra, the Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited (UPRVUNL) examination was conducted at Obra, Anpara and Panki thermal projects.
“Scrutiny of the OMR sheets revealed that answersheets of candidates taking the exam were tampered. As per rules such sheets should not have been checked. Instead, these answersheets were not only checked, but the candidates were passed and selected,” the FIR said, adding that these tampered answersheets were checked by then secretary and chairman of the Electricity Service Commission Gopal Ram and Sudhir Kumar Sharma, respectively, both of whom have died now.
They were also involved in sealing, checking and matching of OMR sheets and preparing results of the written examination through an external agency in connivance with the accused named in the FIR. Since the two accused have died, they have not been named in the FIR.
