HYDERABAD: The High Court directed the Telangana government on Thursday to file a counter affidavit on a petition filed by the DSC-1998 candidates seeking a CBI probe into alleged irregularities and fraudulent appointment of teachers made by the Warangal district selection committee.Justice A Rajasheker Reddy gave this direction on a petition filed by K Venu Goud and four others from Warangal district complaining about large-scale irregularities and fraud in selections to the Secondary Grade Teacher (SGT) posts made through DSC-1998 examination.
To substantiate their claims, the petitioners annexed the inquiry report submitted jointly by the joint collector and district educational officer of Warangal to the district collector in 2014 which clearly brought out the fraud perpetrated. The report stated that there were at least five lists pertaining to selections with varying figures of the candidates selected. It also pointed out that a list of 65 candidates without any approval of the DEO or the DSC chairman was found and all those 65 candidates were appointed as teachers. One candidate who got zero marks in the written exam was called for interview and was selected as a teacher.
A high-level committee headed by senior IAS officer IV Subba Rao, appointed by the then Andhra Pradesh government, had also clearly stated that irregularities occurred in the DSC exam. Despite such findings, no action was taken, the petitioners alleged. Petitioners’ counsel NS Arjun Kumar brought to the notice of the court that candidates who got fewer marks were illegally appointed as teachers due to this fraud. He cited the Vyapam recruitment scam in Madhya Pradesh in which Supreme Court had ordered CBI probe, contours of the scam became clear and the guilty were being punished.
On similar lines, there is a need for a CBI investigation into DSC-1998 scam to bring to light the large-scale frauds committed and to punish the guilty and do justice to deserving candidates like the petitioners who were left out. The government’s counsel urged court to tag present case to other similar petitions which were pending before court. The judge pointed out that present case was seeking a CBI probe and was different from pending cases. He directed respondent authorities to file their counter affidavits and adjourned case by two weeks.