File chargesheet against 12 officials for 'fake' recruitment lists: HC to govt

Chandigarh/Gurgaon: Chargesheets were ordered on June 9 against eight IAS officers and four Haryana Civil Services (HCS) officers, who are accused of shortcomings in recruitments for anganwadis.
The irregularities happened during the reign of the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government. The Punjab and Haryana high court had directed the state to prepare chargesheets against the officers.The same day, Haryana chief secretary D S Dhesi passed on the orders to Anil Malik, the additional chief secretary the additional chief secretary of the women and child development department (WCD).
The letter states the government has decided to initiate disciplinary proceedings for minor non-financial penalties - such as warnings, censure, entry in service book, etc - under Rule 10 of the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969, against the IAS officers, and under Rule 8 of the Haryana Civil Services (P&A) Rules, 1987, against the HCS officers. The WCD department has been asked to submit the chargesheet material, including statement of allegations and supporting documents.
Those under the lens include IAS officers R S Kharb, Sanjeev Verma, Sanjay Joon, Dr Saket Kumar, Anita Yadav, Mona A Sriniwas, Dr J Ganesan and Renu S Phulia, and HCS officers Sumedha Kataria, Ashok Garg, Ramesh Chander Bidhan and Geeta Bharti. All these officers were additional deputy commissioner (ADC) at the time of recruitment of anganwadi workers, and are accused of tampering with merit lists.
"The panels noticed these officials made cuttings, omissions and insertions in the respective interview marks of the candidates. The reports were submitted in HC. Now the court has given directions to impose minor penalty against them," an official who served on the committee told TOI. When contacted, Dhesi said, "The matter is under consideration."
The state government had opened recruitment for anganwadi workers in 2010. In each district, a committee was formed, headed by the then ADC, with ICDS programme officer and child development project officer as members. Applications were invited, interviews conducted and merit lists announced. Then, in 2012, some rejected candidates approached HC, which ordered a probe and asked the social welfare director to form a committee.