Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 29 A BJP delegation led by state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Thursday met Keralam Governor Om Prakash Mathur and sought urgent follow-up action on alleged irregularities in the PSC examination-related activities.
The delegation, which met the Governor at Lok Bhavan here, included senior BJP leaders and the party’s two other MLAs in the Assembly — V Muraleedharan and B B Gopakumar.
The meeting comes days after media reports said former Keralam Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar had recommended the removal of PSC Chairman M R Baiju over complaints of irregularities in the recruitment body.
Arlekar, before his transfer to Tamil Nadu, had reportedly written to President Droupadi Murmu recommending Baiju’s removal, citing allegations of irregularities and an investigation into the statutory body’s functioning, Lok Bhavan sources said.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Gopakumar, the BJP legislative party leader in the Assembly, said the delegation has approached the Governor seeking steps to intensify the probe.
He alleged that the V D Satheesan-led government had attempted to conceal the irregularities in the Public Service Commission (PSC) examination from the beginning of its tenure.
“Widespread irregularities have been taking place in the PSC for years. The chief minister himself had told the Assembly that he had received 188 complaints. However, the government was not ready to order an impartial probe into the matter,” he alleged.
Successive LDF and UDF governments had attempted to conceal the irregularities, and the practice was continuing even now, Gopakumar further alleged.
He said the government was ready to arrest at least some PSC officials only after Arlekar forwarded the complaints submitted by the BJP and its youth wing, Yuva Morcha, to the President.
“It was only because of the Governor’s intervention that the government was ready to act. Therefore, there should be follow-up action,” he said.
Gopakumar said the BJP had also attempted to raise the PSC issue in the Assembly through an adjournment motion, but permission was denied on technical grounds.
Neither the ruling nor the opposition front was willing to discuss the matter, he alleged, adding that this had prompted the BJP to approach the Governor again.
The delegation urged the Governor to intervene urgently and ensure follow-up action on the issue.
He said they also requested him to pay immediate attention to the recruitment of PSC rank holders and pursue the matter relating to the alleged irregularities that had earlier been referred to the President.
The development comes amid a Crime Branch investigation into alleged irregularities in the PSC examination conducted for the post of chief of the State Planning Board. The probe was subsequently expanded to cover alleged irregularities in other PSC examinations as well.
The Crime Branch on Wednesday arrested former Kerala PSC Deputy Secretary P Satheesh in connection with the alleged irregularities in the commission’s examination-related activities, official sources said.
(PTI News)
