Governor Syed Sibtey Razi

Ranchi, Nov. 17: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked the governor to intervene in the Jharkhand Public Service Commission’s (JPSC) appointments of civil servants and lecturers, at least 36 of whom were said to be relatives or friends of senior JPSC members and politicians.

The Jharkhand BET-NET Association questioned this year’s appointments of 239 civil servants and 1,044 lecturers and petitioned Union human resources development minister Arjun Singh seeking a vigilance or CBI probe into what it alleged were clear cases of “favouritism”.

In his letter of October 29, Kanta Batra, the under secretary to the UGC chairman, informed the governor’s office about the BET-NET association secretary Sunil Kumar Kamal’s complaint and attached annexures to list the names of appointees allegedly favoured for appointments as civil servants and lecturers.

The Telegraph is in possession of the UGC’s letter that requests the Jharkhand governor to take “necessary action” on the allegation.

Among the names mentioned by the BET-NET association and forwarded by the UGC, are relatives and friends of the JPSC chairman, Dilip Prasad, and JPSC members Gopal Singh, Shanti Devi and Radha Govind Nagesh (now retired).

Gopal Singh’s family said he was unwell and therefore, wasn’t available for comment.

Politicians who figure in the appointments controversy are state human resources development minister Bandhu Tirkey, former home minister Sudesh Mahto and JDU MLA Radha Krishna Kishore, as their friends and relatives were also in the list prepared by BET-NET association and referred to the Governor.

According to legal experts, the Governor was empowered to refer the case to the state vigilance commissioner.

He may also refer it to the Supreme Court for an enquiry by a sitting judge if the case involved omission and commission on the part of JPSC members. Both the government and the JPSC were evasive. JPSC chairman Dilip Kumar Prasad pleaded ignorance about the letter.

“The letter might have come from UGC, but I do not have any idea about it. Right now, I am busy dispatching papers for tomorrow’s examination,” he said.

Principal secretary to the governor Sudhir Tripathy said, he was yet to go through the letter. Director-general of police (vigilance) Neyaz Ahmed said: “So far, the state has not given any direction to us in the matter. We will take it up after receiving (necessary) directives.”

Significantly, the issue is also pending with Jharkhand High Court.

LOOK WHO’S FAVOURING WHO

The appointments of the following have been questioned by the Jharkhand BET-NET Association and the UGC (in picture below) has now asked the governor to look into it

● Sadhna Jaipuriar (civil services) is the sister of JPSC chairman Dilip Prasad

● Kundan Singh, Jugnu Singh, Shanker Singh, Tripurari Singh & Rekha Singh (lecturers) are the son, daughter-in-law, brother, brother-in-law & daughter-in-law, respectively, of JPSC member Gopal Singh

● Rajnish Kumar & Kundan Kumar (civil services) are sons of JPSC member Gopal Singh

● Ratna Jha, Shailendra Singh, Piyush Bala, Julie, Indra Tiwari, Narendra Jha, Janamjay Yadav and Manish Dubey are the sons & daughters of Gopal Singh’s friend

● Kanti Kumari (lecturer), Kumari Geetanjali & Vinod Ram (both civil services) are sister, niece & brother, respectively, of JPSC member Shanti Devi

● Mausami Nagesh (civil services) is daughter of JPSC member Radha Govind Nagesh, who has now retired

● Mukesh Mahto (civil services) is brother of former state home minister Sudesh Mahto

● Radha Prem Kishore (civil services), brother of JD(U) MLA Radha Krishna Kishore

● Ranjit Lohra, Anjana Das (civil services) are brother & wife of Jagdish Lohra, close associate of HRD minister Bandhu Tirkey

● Sweta Verma (civil services) is the wife of Ranchi Municipal Corporation deputy administrator Mukesh Verma

● Pushkar Singh (lecturer) is the son of former Ranchi University Hindi department head Ram Swarath Singh

● Rohit Sinha (civil services) is the nephew of former advocate-general Anil Sinha