PSI scam: Govt ignored hints from BJP leaders?

By Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: Did the state government turn a blind eye to the PSI selection scam? Why did it not do anything even after a minister and a couple of lawmakers raised the issue nearly a month before the can of worms was opened? Were serving police officers the real whistleblowers?

These questions are coming to the fore after the alleged multicrore PSI selection scam was unearthed. State Home Minister Araga Jnanendra handed over the scandal to the CID only after a few legislators raised the issue in the budget session of the Legislature. In the second week of March, Animal Husbandry Minister Prabhu Chavan wrote to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai saying something fishy was going on in the PSI selection process. The letter was on the basis of information shared with him by some candidates who might have failed to crack the exam. But there was no reply from the CM.

Subsequently, BJP MLCs S.V.Sankanur and A.H.Vishwanath brought up the scam holding press conferences and writing to the CM as well as Home Minister Araga Jnanendra. Vishwanath alleged that rampant inpersonation happened in the written examination and claimed the involvement of bigwigs in the scam. Yet, the CM and HM failed to take note of it. Even the statements by Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) leaders about something going wrong with the exam went unheeded.

A retired IPS officer told News Trail that irregularities in PSI selection are not new as it has happened in the past. Unlike the UPSC exams), those conducted by Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) have a lot of loopholes due to alleged involvement of police officers and politicians. There are middlemen whose job is to fish for candidates ready to shell out lakhs of rupees and make ‘necessary arrangements’ for the selection. Even some nonofficial members nominated by the government are also allegedly involved in the scam as they close their eyes to the murky deals in the KPSC. Irrespective of political parties, MLAs put pressure on the government or senior police officers to get their candidates into the police department.

He said the examination process and setting of question papers must be re-visited in order to protect the sanctity of the examination. Middlemen operate as the link between the candidates and politicians/police officers and this nexus must be broken.