Paper leaks ‘rampant’ in Gujarat: Law panel recommends special law

A senior official of Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Department said on the condition of anonymity that after receiving the report from the State Law Commission, they have forwarded it to the GAD and are awaiting further response from the latter.

The commission stated that repeated incidences of paper leaks not only “betrays” the trust of the general public, but also “adversely affects the credibility of the state government”.

Making recommendation for a special law to deal with the issue, the Commission has noted in the report, “…it needs to be observed that the issue of unemployment has reached its peak not only in the state of Gujarat but also in most of the States of the country.”

It further noted that “unwanted incidences” of paper leak in recruitment exams are “rampantly increasing” in Gujarat creating difficulties among the youths who have been “seriously preparing for such exams.”

In its report, the commission has highlighted the need to fill up the vacancies immediately in various departments.

“Because of insufficient staff, the day–to–day works of the departments may suffer to the large extent… It is learnt that in many of the departments, additional charge is given to the employees/officials because of lack of staff.”

The commission has noted that large number of youths graduates from the colleges in Gujarat, but they do not get opportunity to serve the state government. In this context, the commission added that in many colleges/universities, private companies/corporate sector offer jobs to the youths at the end of final semester.

“Lakhs of youths have been deprived of jobs because of scams during exams. Cancellation of exams may break down the morale of the youths affected by unemployment,” it added.

The commission has cited four examples of allegations of paper leaks or other irregularities in government examinations.

It included Lok Rakshak Dal recruitment of December 2018, head clerk recruitment of December 2021, engineers’ recruitment in Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation in January 2022, forest guards’ recruitment in March 2022.

The commission added that there are many more such incidences which are known to all.

In one of its observations to have a special law to deal with the paper leak menance, the Commission has recorded, “…one of the reasons behind paper leaks may be corruption due to the involvement of influential people in the State Government but unfortunately, they are never caught… It is said that the big fish always escapes the law, while those who get caught are mostly ordinary people.”

In an observation related to the issue, the Commission recorded, “When the incidences of ‘paper leak’ come to the notice of the people, question must be raised on the State Government’s intention in conducting impartial and clean recruitment through competitive exams.”

Recommending to have a special law, the Commission reported, “…the issue needs to be resolved as expeditiously as possible and, therefore, this Commission recommends for introduction of a special law against ‘paper leak’.”

It has also recommended examining similar law in Haryana.

Legislative and parliamentary affairs minister Rushikesh Patel could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Paper leak in the government recruitment examinations was one of the issues raised by Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the recently concluded Gujarat assembly elections. Both the opposition parties had also made a poll promise to bring a special law to check the menace of paper leak.