HC quashes Tripura appointments

AGARTALA, April 13: The Agartala bench of the Guwahati High Court has terminated the services of eight panchayat extension officers recruited through the Tripura Public Service Commission in 1997. Justice BB Deb of the High Court also questioned the integrity commission's authorities who had made the appointments, when the case came up for hearing yesterday. According to the case details, advertisements were issued in 1995 in the CPM organ Daily Desherkatha, inviting applications for nine panchayat extension officers. Records showed that though 914 candidates applied for the post, the then commission chairman Suprasanna Chakraborty found that only two had the requisite qualification. This was informed to the panchayat department. However, on December 26, 1996, the then panchayat director Nepal Sinha informed the chairman that his department (with approval from the state government) had prepared a panel of 90 candidates. "The TPSC cannot amend the recruitment policy of the state government," Sinha added. Thereafter, the commission authorities violated the provisions of the Article 309 of the Constitution and allowed all the 90 applicants to take the exam. A panel of nine successful candidates was forwarded to the panchayat department in January 1997.