Parivarvaad Opposition on 'one-fifth of vacancies in UP Assembly Council filled with kin of VIPs'

Lucknow, Nov 15 (PTI) Following an expose by a leading English daily, according to which one fifth of the vacancies in Uttar Pradesh Assembly and Council were filled with kin of VIPs, the opposition parties have accused the BJP of 'parivarvaad (dynastic politics)', a charge that the ruling party has often hurled at the opposition.
     According to an expose by The Indian Express at a time when aspirantss of the Provincial Civil Services and Review Officers (ROs) and Assistant Review Officers (AROs) preliminary exams, of the 186 vacancies for the posts of ROs and AROs, 38 candidates who were selected had links with officials and politicians.
     An estimated 2.5 lakh aspirants had applied for the post. Their tests were held in two rounds in 2020-2021 to fill up administrative posts in the UP Legislative Assembly and UP Legislative Council.
     The newspaper report claimed that those who successfully made it to the coveted list included the then UP Speaker's PRO and his brother, a former minister's nephew, son of Legislative Council secretariat in-charge, four relatives of Legislative Assembly secretariat in-charge, son of Deputy Lokayukta, son and daughter of Department of Parliamentary Affairs in-charge and son of former OSD to two chief ministers.
     When contacted, the then Speaker of the UP Assembly Hriday Narayan Dixit told PTI, "The matter is pending in the court and hence, it would not be appropriate for me to comment on this."
     Principal Secretary to the UP Assembly Pradeep Dubey could not be contacted for comments despite repeated efforts.
     Member of UP Legislative Council (MLC) of the Samajwadi Party (SP), Ashutosh Sinha told PTI, "The matter is pending in the court and it is all a matter of probe. But it seems that the BJP indulges in 'parivaarvad' (dynastic politics) when it comes to distribution of tickets during elections or when selecting candidates for jobs."
     UP Congress leader Ashok Singh said, "The matter is pending in court and it should be fairly probed. All those guilty must be identified and given befitting punishment."
     President of Rashtriya Kisan Manch, Shekhar Dixit, told PTI, "It seems that only 20 to 25 per cent of the wrongdoing has been caught. This is a clear-cut cheating with the aspirants, people and the entire society. This is certainly not beneficial for the country."
     Leader of Opposition in UP Assembly and former Speaker of UP Assembly Mata Prasad Pandey (of SP), said, "How can I comment on this issue, until I (myself) do not probe this issue. This is a matter which pertains to the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, on which much comments cannot be made. I will find out, and will speak whatever is appropriate."
     In September 2023, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court raised doubts over the fairness of examinations conducted to recruit staff for the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council and directed the CBI to conduct a probe.
     Passing the order on September 18, 2023, a bench of Justices A R Masoodi and O P Shukla asked the CBI to conduct a preliminary enquiry to primarily find out whether there was any foul play in the recruitment process and submit its report by the first week of November.
     The bench was hearing a special appeal and a writ petition which pertained to the challenge of the recruitment of staff in 2022-23 in the two legislative bodies.
     The court was concerned over the change of recruitment agency in 2019 before recruiting staff in 2022-23 when the UPPSC and the UP Subordinate Services Selection Commission were already available.
     The bench also highlighted certain original records pertaining to the recruitment and asked its senior registrar to supply photocopy of the records to the CBI in order to facilitate it in the preliminary enquiry.
     In the course of hearing, the bench found that there was serious doubt that the recruitment agency was chosen in a fair manner.
     In its order, the bench had observed, "On scrutiny of the company master data with respect to the agency chosen for recruitment, we came across some inexplicable details which, prima facie, satisfy the Court for a preliminary enquiry by an impartial agency as regard the identification of external agency in the present case.
     "The function of recruitment in public service, in our firm view, cannot be compromised on the hallmark of fairness," it said.
     Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on October 14, 2023 stayed the Allahabad High Court Lucknow bench order for a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in staff appointments to the secretariats of UP Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council.
     The next hearing is scheduled to be held on January 6.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)