Patna, May 13: Congress leader and former Assembly speaker Sadanand Singh today filed an anticipatory bail application in the court of special vigilance judge, Patna, Ajit Kumar Sinha.

The Congress leader is accused in a case of irregularities in the recruitment of 90 lower division clerks in the Assembly between 2000 and 2005.

The vigilance bureau has named Singh and 41 others in the case. The court will hear Singh’s bail petition on May 16. Singh’s counsel, in his anticipatory bail plea, has said that the vigilance report on the same matter was submitted to the Patna High court in response to a writ application, challenging the appointment of 90 lower division clerks.

The application stated that the vigilance in its report had submitted that there was no serious defect and no irregularities were found in the appointment of the lower division clerks. The writ was dismissed by the Patna high court on October 27, 2010, he stressed. The anticipatory bail petition also states that an Assembly speaker, under the Bihar Vidhan Sabha Secretariat rules 1964, has the power to reconstitute the selection committee when the need arises and nominate any competent incumbent in the selection committee.

According to the bail application, Raj Kishore Rawat, another accused, was appointed and brought in the selection committee when the post fell vacant after the retirement of Santosh Paswan on January 31, 2004. It also states that former secretary of the Assembly, Jhauri Prasad Pal, had expressed his inability to continue as a member of the panel on health ground and after that Pal had joined back the “the services of sub-ordinate judiciary”. Nawal Kishore Prasad Singh (another accused) was then appointed by the former speaker in place of Pal.

The case, registered at the vigilance police station in Patna, names 42 accused, including Singh and Pal, under various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The examination for the appointment of lower grade clerks through advertisement no. 20/2001 was conducted on August 11, 2002. Altogether 90 people were appointed in different phases. Thirty of them were said to be relatives and family members of the accused persons. A vigilance team headed by senior deputy superintendent of police Prakash Nath Mishra found evidence of irregularities in the recruitment process during a preliminary probe.

During investigation, the vigilance team found that serving employees were appointed examiners; they also conducted interviews and made certain amendments in the rules to suit their interests. Surprisingly, the answer-sheets of many candidates did not bear the signatures of the examiners.

The vigilance case states that Singh violated the ordinance, misinterpreted the orders and abused the power of speaker while appointing 90 lower division clerks in the Assembly.