HYDERABAD: Holding IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao responsible for failing to prevent the leak of TSPSC question papers, the nine-member task force set up by the BJP to study the issue on Thursday demanded his sacking from the Cabinet and that of B Janardhan Reddy as TSPSC chairman, as well as reconstitution of the Commission.
During a meeting chaired by BJP State president Bandi Sanjay at the party office, the task force members said that the question papers for Group-I prelims and Assistant Engineer examinations were leaked. The possibility of the exams being conducted in the next three months was also discussed.
The task force demanded payment of Rs 1 lakh to all the candidates affected by the cancellation of the exams, and also sought all the exams to be held as per a predetermined schedule. Pointing out that the management of TSPSC’s computers was done by CGG and TSTS, which come under the State IT department, the BJP’s task force came to a preliminary conclusion that the IT department was responsible for the leak.
TSPSC chairman’s responsibility
The task force said that as per regulations, all confidential information, including question paper setting, printing and delivery at the examination centres, was the responsibility of TSPSC chairman. The task force wondered how the main accused Praveen and Rajasekhar could download the question papers from the computer of section officer Shankara Lakshmi.
The task force also pointed out that though the IT wings in various departments were supposed to go through the Centre’s third-party security audit, as per the amendments to the IT Act in 2011, since the formation of Telangana, none of the websites of the State government departments have received the security audit certificate.
As a result, issues like TSPSC paper leak, Dharani scam, GHMC fake certificate scam, stamps and registration payments scam, and irregularities in the irrigation department’s contract tendering were happening, the task force alleged.
Bandi meets BJYM activists
On Thursday, Sanjay met the BJYM activists lodged in Chanchalguda jail for vandalising the TSPSC office during their protest on Tuesday. Speaking to the media there, he rubbished the allegations by BRS leaders that Rajasekhar, one of the accused, was a member of BJP. Sanjay will be sitting on a day-long hunger strike at BJP party office on Friday, demanding an inquiry supervised by a sitting High Court judge on the TSPSC paper leaks case.