APPSC scam: Anguished aspirants hold massive rally in Itanagar

Anguished aspirants on September 23 held a massive peaceful rally from Akashdeep to the Tennis court of Indira Gandhi Park against the recent question paper leakage of AE civil examination conducted by Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) demanding CBI inquiry and the resignation of both chairman and secretary. 

The prestigious Public Service Commission of Arunachal came again under the scanner as Deputy Secretary along with other five arrests in connection with cases pertaining to AE civil exam Question Paper leakage. 

Notably, a person named Dugh Saha, a courier man, who carried question papers for printing was also got arrested. 

The entire scam came to light after an aspirant named Gyamar Padang became a whistleblower and revealed that the questions were leaked by one Akhilesh Yadav of Jeju coaching Institute of Itanagar.

Now, after a lot of hue and cry, the Capital Police arrested six persons, including a senior officer of APPSC and two teachers for their alleged involvement in the AE (Civil) Mains Examination 2022 question paper leak case, City SP Jimmy Chiram informed.

The Mains examination for the posts of Assistant Engineer (Civil) was conducted by the APPSC on August 26 and 27 last.

SP Jimmy Chiram also informed that the arrestees include the father-son duo of Tanyang Gaduk and Thomas Gaduk (aspirant candidate), Akhilesh Yadav (teacher of a Jeju coaching institute), Tama Saroh (junior teacher of a State-run school), and Taket Jerang (Deputy Secretary cum Deputy Controller of Examination, APPSC) and Dugh Saha courier man.

“We strongly demand the state government for ED and CBI level investigation in paper leakage case. The aspirants no longer have faith in any ‘high-level’ committee constituted by the state government to probe the case,” said Techi Puru, the chairman of the committee.

Puru described the formation of the high-level committee as “eyewash,” and said that the police investigation has revealed the involvement of government officers in the case.

“We do not buy or subscribe to the statement made by APPSC member Jarken Gamlin that no officer of the commission is involved in the fiasco except accused Taket Jerang,” Puru added.

The committee has also demanded the resignation of APPSC Chairman Nipo Nabam and Secretary Jayanta Kumar Roy on moral grounds, stating that “numerous malpractices occurred ever since Nabam was appointed as chairman.”

“We will boycott all APPSC examinations until the commission is reshuffled,” Puru said, and appealed to the Chief Minister Pema Khandu and the governor to “write to the president of India regarding reshuffling in the APPSC and termination of corrupt officers.”

Highlighting the Assam Public Service Commission job scam, in which the jobs of all accused officers were terminated by CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, Puru accused Chief Minister Pema Khandu of being “incompetent in terminating the accused officers of APPSC and APSSB.

Puru further also sought an inquiry into all APPSC examinations conducted under APPSC Chairman Nipo Nabam and Deputy Controller Taket Jerang,” stating that similar malpractice might have occurred in the exams held previously by the APPSC.

Puru also demanded the inclusion of fresh/new candidates along with the old ones in the AE (civil) exam to be re-conducted by the APPSC and to increase the age limit of APPSC aspirants to 40 years.