JAIPUR: The Ashok Gehlot government on Saturday sacked the chairman of Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education D P Jarauli and suspended Board secretary Arvind Kumar Sengwa in connection with the paper leak during the teachers’ recruitment exam (REET) in September.
The state government has also decided to introduce a bill in the upcoming budget session of the assembly with strict provisions to check paper leaks and cheating in exams. Besides, the government has set up a committee under the chairmanship of a retired high court judge to examine how to check irregularities in future competitive examinations in the state. It will suggest what reforms are needed in the system to prevent paper leaks in future.
The decisions were taken at a high-level meeting chaired by CM Gehlot late Friday. The state government had been under intense pressure to take action in the matter of paper leak in the Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers in which over 16 lakh candidates had appeared for more than 30,000 posts. Opposition BJP has been pressing for a CBI inquiry in the matter.
At the meeting, it was also decided that any employee involved in the paper leak case would be immediately suspended. “The state government will take the strictest action against every person found guilty of malpractices, lapses and dereliction of duty in the examination,” Gehlot said in a statement on Saturday.
After his dismissal, Jarauli claimed that the paper leak could not be possible without political patronage.
“The paper leak case is a political conspiracy. The paper is the responsibility of the District Examination Steering Committee. My duty was only to deliver the paper. I do not know anything beyond that. I have been a teacher, have conducted many exams but whatever happened is in front of everyone.” Jarauli also said that he would fully cooperate in the investigation. “I will never run away,” he asserted.