The Gujarat government ordered an investigation into allegations of irregularities in an online exam for the recruitment of engineers for the state-run Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation on Tuesday (GETCO).
The examination began on Tuesday and will last three days. The Gujarat BJP government reacted after Aam Aadmi Party’s state unit youth wing leader Yuvrajsinh Jadeja claimed that some middlemen were assisting candidates in clearing the online exam by taking money in collusion with some government officials and a private agency that is conducting the online exam.
Gujarat Education Minister Jitu Vaghani announced later that Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel had ordered an investigation into the allegations.
“Our government believes in transparency. Nearly 35,000 young aspirants are appearing in this online exam, which will continue for three more days. Our CM has ordered an inquiry into the allegations of irregularities. We will take strict action against the guilty,” said Vaghani, who is also the state government’s spokesperson.
The role of a Maharashtra-headquartered firm, which has been given the contract by GETCO to conduct the online recruitment test, is also in question. However, Vaghani defended it saying the same agency was hired earlier for the recruitment of the railway police and also by some central PSUs.
The minister also said there was no immediate plan to cancel the online exam. Earlier in the day, Jadeja held a press conference and alleged that some middlemen, mostly teachers of coaching classes, people working in the private firm, and some officials, were involved in this “scam” of passing candidates.
The online test, which began at 12 noon on Tuesday, is being conducted at different centres across the state for the recruitment of 300 electrical engineers and 53 civil engineers, he said.
“The name of this agency had previously appeared in a similar scam.” The middlemen usually charge Rs 20 lakh to each candidate and take an advance of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh. “Right answers are clicked from the control room on behalf of the candidate with the assistance of this agency and government officials,” he claimed. Notably, the state government cancelled an exam for the recruitment of head clerks last month after police discovered substance in Jadeja’s allegation of exam paper leak.