MADURAI: Shocked by the alleged large-scale malpractice committed in the recruitment of employees to the Madurai District Co-operative Milk Producers Union (DCMPUs) in 2020, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court recently ordered the general manager of the union to lodge a criminal complaint before the district crime branch to unearth the truth.
The order was passed by a division bench of justices SS Sundar and D Bharatha Chakravarthy on a batch of appeals filed by some of the recruited employees (including those selected to Virudhunagar and Tiruchy DCMPUs), whose appointments were later cancelled by the government in light of complaints. The employees had challenged an order passed by a single judge in March this year, dismissing their petitions seeking reinstatement.
As far as the Virudhunagar union is concerned, the bench ordered reinstatement of the employees, without back wages, as there was no sufficient material to point out any gross illegality or corruption in the recruitment to warrant immediate termination without even issuing show cause notice. However, with respect to the recruitment conducted by the Madurai union, the judges observed that out of the 43 selected candidates, 33 had not sent their applications by post, which was mandatory.
The judges also noted several other irregularities from the inquiry report and documents relating to the recruitment and observed, "It is clear that this is not a selection process but criminal conspiracy, cheating, falsification of records and is a result of total, undoubted and egregious fraud. The results of the written examination were willfully burked and thrown away from the files by the officials ('accused' would be the proper term), and false records are created as if the selected candidates indeed applied and were successful in the written examination."
The judge further criticised that even after the single judge specifically directed to initiate disciplinary action, the government simply cancelled the appointment of the candidates but left the higher officials involved in the matter to go scot-free. They refused to order reinstatement and directed the general manager of the Madurai union to lodge a complaint to the Madurai district crime branch within two days, with further directions to the DCB to register FIR and swiftly investigate the matter and file a final report as expeditiously as possible.
A similar direction, albeit without a strict deadline, was issued to the Tiruchy union's general manager and district crime branch authorities to cull out the truth regarding the selection and distortion of OMR sheets. The judges, however, ordered the reinstatement of the employees as it was not possible to arrive at a conclusion as to whether the selected candidates came out successful in the written examination or if their appointment was based on corruption.