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Question in junior engineer recruitment had sparked protests from Brahmin bodies; Haryana CM accused of giving caste politics primacy over corruption.

Chandigarh: Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s decision to suspend the graft-tainted Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) chairman, Bharat Bhushan Bharti, for a derogatory question against the Brahmin community that the commission included in a recruitment exam, has attracted charges that the CM was giving precedence to caste politics over corruption charges.

The allegations against Khattar have gained ground as only two months ago, the chief minister refused to initiate any action against Bharti when a 14-minute audio clip surfaced, in which, the HSSC chief was accused of allegedly doling out posts for bribes. Instead the chief minister, amid an opposition uproar and a vigilance probe, extended the tenure of the HSSC chief, which was to end on March 24, by a further three years.

Last Friday, however, Khattar ordered Bharti’s suspension after a prolonged agitation by Brahmin bodies in the state over the question issue. For the chief minister, the optics of punishing Bharti had become essential as the Brahmin bodies had upped the ante, including having met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on May 14, demanding strict action against HSSC officials.

Furore over question, Khattar acts

The multiple-choice question that stoked the controversy appeared in a junior engineer recruitment examination conducted by the HSSC in April. It read: “Which one among the following is not sign of a bad omen in Haryana: 1. Empty pitchers; 2. A casket full of fuel; 3. Meeting a black Brahmin; 4. Sighting a Brahmin girl.

Screenshots of the question went viral and caused a furore. While the HSSC announced that the question stood withdrawn and that the mistake was “unintentional”, Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma ensured that the erring paper setter was blacklisted by the commission.

That did little to assuage the Brahmin bodies that launched a state-wide protest. They demanded action against the HSSC chairman.

The chief minister, who was away on a foreign tour, met a delegation of Brahmin leaders led by Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma, on his return Friday. The delegation, which also included a number of BJP MLAs and ministers, demanded strict action in the case.

Khattar immediately suspended the chairman, while also ordering an inquiry against him. The chief minister further ordered the immediate registration of an FIR against the Delhi-based private company that had been outsourced the work of setting the question paper, and the paper setter.

Sharma then held a press conference and stated that the various protests across the state had been called off. He added that since the HSSC was an autonomous body, an inquiry would be conducted by a retired or serving judicial officer, till the pendency of which, the chairman would remain suspended.

Chief plagued by graft charges

During the state budget session in March, the opposition had put the Khattar government in the dock over serious allegations of corruption and bribery against Bharat Bhushan Bharti. A 14-minute audio clip of a conversation between two BJP leaders had surfaced in February, in which, they allege that Bharti’s son took a bribe of Rs 75 lakh for the appointment of a chairman and members of a municipal committee. (See ThePrint report)

Even as the CM announced in the assembly that the state vigilance bureau will conduct an investigation into the allegations, the opposition demanded Bharti’s suspension, pending an inquiry. But Khattar did not take any action; instead, he extended Bharti’s term as the HSSC chairman.

This, however, isn’t the only corruption against Bharti. Working on a set of complaints filed in the chief minister’s office in June last year, a flying squad of the CMO, on April 5 this year, busted a cash-for-jobs scam involving employees of the HSSC’s secrecy branch.

Four HSSC employees and three others were arrested by an SIT constituted to investigate the scam. The employees allegedly identified candidates who were short of a few marks in the selection examinations conducted by HSSC and then approached them through brokers demanding money to help them get selected.

In the wake of the scam, Congress leader from Haryana Randeep Surjewala had demanded Bharti’s resignation, saying that “connivance of the highest level is at least prime facie apparent” in the scam. The principal opposition party, the Indian National Lok Dal, also demanded that the HSSC be immediately dissolved. But no action was taken.

On May 10, one of the accused in the scam claimed before a local court that if there ever was a scam, it “could not be possible without involvement of the members and officers of the HSSC decision makers.” He demanded that the call detail records (CDRs) of the HSSC members, the chairman and secretary should also be collected by the SIT probing the scam for “fair investigation”.

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