Rajesh Tope denies his dept’s recruitment role in exam row, puts out new dates

The health department exams were to be held on September 25 and 26. Representation pic

Denying his department's role in the recruitment exam controversy, Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope announced on Monday that the test for Group ‘C' will be held on October 24, and Group ‘D' candidates will take the exam on October 31.

The exams that were to be held on September 25 and 26 were postponed at the eleventh hour last Friday. The government said the outsourced company could not make all preparations, and Tope had tendered an apology to the candidates for the inconvenience caused. The postponement led to outburst from the candidates and the opposition parties that accused the government of hiring blacklisted private companies for the job. It was also alleged that middlemen have been promising jobs in exchange for money. Some eight lakh candidates had applied for 6,200 posts in Group ‘C' and 'D'.

Tope, who held a meeting on Monday, denied all the charges. He said his department did not select the company but picked one from among the five agencies that were empanelled by the Information Technology Department which works under the General Administration Department. He said his department did due diligence before assigning the company called Nyasa Communications Pvt Ltd. "Health department's job is to prepare exam papers and hand them to the company. We had given the papers to the company much before. The rest of the things like printing, hiring invigilators and finding centres are done by the company. The rates are fixed and there is no question of tendering," he said.

Rajesh Tope, state health minister

The minister assured that the students would now receive hall tickets nine days before the day of exams in October. "The [outsourced] company has been asked to prepare a dashboard and given a timetable to make information available."

Report to police

Tope said the incidents of middlemen contacting the candidates should be reported to the police who have been instructed to take strict action. "Please don't fall prey to rumours. Some people may attempt wrong things. Be good citizens, report them to police immediately," he said, in response to an audio clip that former MLA Prakash Shendge had released. Shendge alleged that the voices recorded were of the people who were striking a deal to have some candidates selected by rigging the exams.

CM must probe: Shelar

Addressing mediapersons, senior BJP leader Ashish Shelar said Tope's apology was not sufficient to end the controversy. "The health department is entirely responsible for the students who had put in a lot of hard work and had sacrificed on their family front only to clear the exams but have missed the opportunity. How did some traffickers get the question papers in advance? How is it that the police were unaware of it? Isn't this an abuse of power? Apologising and setting himself free will not be appreciated," said Shelar, demanding that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray must investigate the health department.

6,200
No. of posts for which exams will be held

8 Lakh
Approx. no. of candidates for the exams