CAT stays final appointment of Chandigarh bus conductors

Arguing on behalf of the petitioners,Advocate D S Patwalia contended that of the total 144 selected candidates for the post of bus conductors,139 belonged to Ram Niwas’s home district. The petitioners have also brought to the notice of the Tribunal various recruitments conducted during the tenure of Ram Niwas as Transport Secretary,which too are under the scanner.

“It is pertinent to mention here that all the selections that have taken place during the tenure of Ram Niwas,UT home secretary-cum-transport secretary,are under scanner for some reason or the other. For example,the selection of teachers in the year 2008,selection of firemen in the year 2010,nurses’ and doctors’ selection,selections in CITCO were all made in the tenure of Ram Niwas. There are several complaints pending before the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) with regard to these selections,” reads the petition.

Patwalia contended that “sources revealed that during the checking/ scrutiny of documents of some of the applicants in the office of the CTU Director,it came to light that many candidates who were declared successful and got more than 90 marks were not even able to fill their forms properly and some could not even write their names,which were corrected later on by making cuttings in the forms”.

The petitioners submitted that the whole selection process was a sham and was tainted by large-scale irregularities. The petitioners further alleged that even after this scam and large-scale irregularities and illegalities came to light,the examination was not cancelled and a provisional list of shortlisted candidates was declared by the respondents on February 25.

“In this provisional list,a total of 144 candidates were declared to be in merit position while 37 marked their place in the waiting list. A very shocking aspect that needs to be highlighted here is that out of 144 successful candidates,139 were from the home district of Ram Niwas,” reads the petition.

“There was a deficiency of almost 175 conductors in the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU),due to which it was decided to invite applications for 144 posts of bus conductors. However,it is relevant to highlight here that the Administration deployed 70 conductors in branches inspite of deploying them on buses. There was absolutely no necessity to deploy 70 conductors in the branches. This was done by the authorities to create more vacancies for the post of conductors and to give way to the applicants of the constituency of Ram Niwas,Transport Secretary,” the petition adds.