The High Court is surprised at the selection of relatives of its Chairman, ruling party Congress leaders and officials in the Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission examination. Chhattisgarh High Court, Bilaspur, while hearing this matter, has put a stay on the appointments of 18 such officers.
The High Court expressed surprise that in Chhattisgarh PSC, relatives including sons and daughters of officers and leaders have been given posts like Deputy Collector, DSP. The beneficiaries include Congress leader Rajendra Shukla’s daughter and Sudhir Katiyar’s daughter and son-in-law.
Chhattisgarh PSC Chairman asked about forming a party
The case was heard in the division bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Kumar Sinha of Bilaspur High Court. He asked during the hearing why the PSC Chairman was not made a party in such a serious case.
After this, the petitioner’s lawyer cited the necessity of the post of Chairman being constitutional. However, the court has clearly said that these appointments should be stopped and a note should also be attached with this case.
Honorable Chhattisgarh High Court slammed the state government and PSC Chairman Taman Sonwani by banning the appointment of 18 candidates regarding the CG PSC Exam 2021 scam. The court made strong remarks on the issue of destruction of evidence. Have some Shame- @bhupeshbaghel @INCChhattisgarh @AmitShah pic.twitter.com/DS4CTqzm3z
— Gouri Shanker Shrivas (@GouriShanker_CG) September 19, 2023
Surprise was also expressed at the close relatives of the leaders of the ruling Congress party.
Former minister and BJP MLA Nankiram Kanwar had filed a petition in this matter. During the hearing of the case, the bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha issued a notice to Chhattisgarh PSC seeking its reply.
The High Court said that leave aside the officers, 5-5 close relatives of Chhattisgarh PSC Chairman Taman Singh Sonwani have been selected. The High Court directed to investigate the appointments to 18 posts of chairman, officers and people close to the leaders of the ruling party.
Questions on the appointments of these people
According to the petition filed in Bilaspur High Court, these 18 people have been given big and important posts and corruption worth crores has also been done. According to the charge sheet, Chhattisgarh PSC Chairman Taman Singh Sonwani’s son Nitesh has been appointed to the post of Deputy Collector, daughter-in-law Nisha Koshale has been appointed to the post of Deputy Collector.
Apart from this, his elder brother’s son Sahil has been selected for the post of DSP. Their surnames have also been hidden. Not only this, his brother’s daughter-in-law Deepa Ajgale has been appointed to the post of District Excise Officer and sister’s daughter Sunita Joshi has been made Labor Officer.
Apart from this, Khushboo Bijori, daughter of the Congress leader’s OSD brother-in-law, has also been selected for the post of Deputy Collector. Swarnim Shukla, daughter of Congress leader Rajendra Shukla, has been given the post of Deputy Collector. Congress leader Sudhir Katiyar’s son-in-law Shashank Goyal and daughter Bhumika Katiyar have also been given the post of Deputy Collector.
According to the report published in Bhaskar, both Neha Khalko, daughter of Governor’s Secretary Amrit Khalko, and his son Nikhil Khalko have been given the post of Deputy Collector. Apart from this, Pragya Nayak, daughter of Congress leader’s OSD relative, and son Prakhar Nayak have also been made Deputy Collector.
Let us tell you that the final result of Chhattisgarh PSC 2021 was released on 11 May 2023. In this, recruitment has been done on 171 posts, out of which 15 people have been selected for Deputy Collector. Relatives of PSC Chairman and close relatives of Congress leaders got place in this merit list.
Controversy started after the results came out. BJP leaders filed a petition in the High Court regarding these appointments. Alleged that all the recruitments of Chhattisgarh till the year 2019-2023 have been disputed. Since then, the Public Service Commission is now under the scanner of allegations.
