THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A crime branch (CB) team led by IG S Ajeetha Begum will probe the complaints surrounding PSC exams. The government preferred a CB probe on the complaints of irregularities in several PSC exams on the basis of the law department’s feedback, which said a vigilance probe might encounter legal hardships.
Government sources told TNIE that the legal opinion it got favoured a CB probe. The reason cited was that the CB being a specialised wing has the legal ambit to probe all crimes, while the vigilance can only probe offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The chief minister and the home minister too seconded the opinion paving way for a CB involvement. Sources said the government felt the CB is better poised to “dig deeper” into the allegations.
The perceived difficulty in obtaining government sanction to register cases against PSC office-bearers as well as prosecuting them under the Prevention of Corruption Act prompted the government, which was initially mulling over entrusting the probe to the vigilance, to look upto the CB.
The law department also, sources said, conveyed to the government that the CB will be more suitable.The case in point they cited as an example was the probe into Sabarimala gold theft, which also had provisions of Anti-Corruption Act invoked. Despite having elements of corruption, the CB has been conducting a probe in these cases. Similarly, there won’t be any legal hurdle for the crime branch to probe any corruption angle that may spring up during the PSC probe, the government was apprised.
Apart from the Planning Board, the examinations conducted for the posts of fisheries extension officer, Kerala Administrative Service, assistant information officer, university public relations officer, assistant professor in law colleges and special recruitment for DySP have been under scanner following allegations of various irregularities.
