After exam for jobs in UP House, a fifth go to VVIP kin: Ex-Speaker staff, kids of Principal Secretaries

On the list of successful candidates: The then UP Speaker’s PRO and his brother; a Minister’s nephew; son of the Legislative Council secretariat in-charge; four relatives of the Legislative Assembly secretariat in-charge; son and daughter of the Department of Parliamentary Affairs in-charge; son of a Deputy Lokayukta; son of a former Officer on Special Duty to two Chief Ministers.

Add to this: at least five who are relatives of the owners of the two private firms, TSR Data Processing and Rabhav, which conducted this test amid the first Covid wave.

All these candidates were appointed three years ago to the two secretariats that administer the UP legislature. In an order on September 18, 2023, hearing a plea filed by three unsuccessful candidates, Sushil Kumar, Ajay Tripathi and Amrish Kumar, a two-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court ordered a CBI probe, calling the process “shocking” and “not less than a recruitment scam” where “hundreds of recruits illegally and unlawfully (were) recruited by an external agency of shaken credence”.

On an appeal by the Legislative Council, the Supreme Court stayed the CBI probe — the next hearing is scheduled on January 6, 2025.

These appointments pertain to posts of at least 15 Review Officers (ROs); 27 Assistant ROs and junior positions. RO is equivalent to a gazetted post with a salary band of Rs 47,600-Rs 1,51,100 and ARO has a pay matrix of Rs 44,900-Rs 1,42,400.

The Indian Express investigated records and interviewed those who were involved to trace the 38 candidates selected for the two secretariats with links to officials and politicians:

📌 PRO to H N Dikshit, who was UP Assembly Speaker when the recruitment was conducted. Post: Special Executive Officer (Publication), Legislative Council, a newly created position. “He was with me and was later appointed to the Council (secretariat). I had no role in this,” Dikshit said. The PRO’s brother also got selected as Review Officer (RO) in the Assembly. “I don’t know this person,” Dikshit said.

Asked about the recruitment conducted under his watch, Dikshit, an ex-BJP MLA who was the Speaker from 2017-2022, said, “It was conducted by an agency approved by us. But my role was limited and the matter is in court now. None of my close relatives have been appointed to any position.”

📌Son and daughter of Jai Prakash Singh, Principal Secretary, Parliamentary Affairs, UP. Post: RO, Assembly. “They were selected on their merit. I don’t wish to say anything more,” Singh said.

📌 Four relatives of Pradeep Dubey, Principal Secretary, Assembly. Post: Two relatives (sons of cousins), RO and ARO, Assembly. Two other relatives (sons of a cousin and maternal uncle), RO, Council. Dubey said, “This issue is now before the Supreme Court, it would not be proper for me to discuss it.”

📌 Son of Dr Rajesh Singh, Principal Secretary, Legislative Council. Post: RO, Assembly. “Dubeyji has spoken to you. I don’t wish to say anything,” Singh said.

📌 Nephew of Mahendra Singh, former Minister. Post: Assistant Review Officer (ARO), Legislative Council. Singh was Minister of State from 2017 to 2019, and Cabinet Minister from 2019 to 2022 in the BJP state government. He could not be reached for comment. A member of his family said, “He had nothing to do with the selection process.”

📌 Son of Dinesh Kumar Singh, Deputy Lokayukta and former Principal Secretary, Department of Law, UP. Post: RO, Assembly. Later, the son was selected as a judge in the lower courts under the Persons with Disability (PWD) category. “I have no role in his appointment (to the Assembly secretariat). He is a judicial officer now,” Singh said.

📌 Son of Ajay Kumar Singh, ex-OSD to Chief Ministers Akhilesh Yadav and Yogi Adityanath, now retired. Post: Review Officer (RO), Assembly. Singh did not respond to requests for comment.

📌 Son and brother of Dharmendra Singh, APS (Additional Private Secretary), Council, who has worked with former minister and SP leader Shivpal Yadav. Post (son): ARO, Assembly. Post (brother): APS, Assembly. “They cleared the test,” Singh said.

📌 Nephew of Jainendra Singh Yadav aka Neetu, a close associate of ex-CM Akhilesh Yadav. Post: RO, Assembly. Jainendra did not respond to requests for comment.

Those selected included relatives of the owners of the two recruitment firms:

📌 Wife of Ram Parvesh Yadav, owner of Rabhav. Yadav’s father is the brother of Shambhu Singh Yadav, an ex-IAS officer who retired recently as Deputy Lokayukta. Post: RO, Council. “I don’t know anything about this,” Shambhu Singh Yadav said.

📌 Nephew, niece and brother-in-law of Ram Beer Singh, director of TSR Data Processing. Post: ARO, Assembly.

📌 Brother of Satya Pal Singh, director of TSR Data Processing. Post: ARO, Assembly.

Ram Beer, Satya Pal and Ram Pravesh Yadav did not respond to repeated requests and emailed questionnaires from The Indian Express seeking comment.

‘Quite shocking’

The recruitment was the subject of multiple petitions in the Allahabad High Court from 2021. On September 18, 2023, while clubbing two pleas, directing the matter to be converted to a PIL and ordering a CBI probe, a two-judge bench slammed the manner in which external agencies were roped in. Court records show the owners of both the private firms were jailed once earlier on charges of alleged manipulation in another recruitment, and are on bail with the matter still pending.

The High Court delivered scathing remarks, mainly referring to an amendment in rules that enabled the “scam”: Recruitment for the secretariats were conducted by the UP Public Service Commission till 2016, when the Assembly amended the rule and decided to conduct them on its own followed by the Council in 2019. Former SP MLC Ramesh Yadav, who was Council chairman when the rules were amended, could not be reached for comment as he was “not keeping good health”.

The High Court said: “…it was surprising to notice as to why the Rules…were amended by ousting the examination agency…The decision for an external agency by-passing the rule of the Selection Committee prescribed…was quite shocking.”

It said: “The procedure for identifying the external agencies surfaced doubt… we came across some inexplicable details which, prima facie, satisfy the Court for a preliminary enquiry by an impartial agency as regards the identification of external agency in the present case entrusted the function of recruitment in public service which, in our firm view, cannot be compromised on the hallmark of fairness.”

On October 3, 2023, the High Court rejected a review application filed by the Legislative Council. “This court having perused the original records itself has already recorded its prima facie satisfaction on the substance of allegations levelled… and need not go any further, especially when the Court from the entire gamut of facts would find that it was not less than a recruitment scam, wherein hundreds of recruits have been illegally and unlawfully recruited by an external agency of shaken credence,” it said.

The CBI, meanwhile, registered a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) and took possession of some records related to the recruitment until the Supreme Court issued a stay on October 13, 2023.

The High Court records also detail the time trail of the recruitment:

UP Council Secretariat: 99 posts advertised on September 17 and 27, 2020. Preliminary exam on November 22, 2020 — and a retest for Gorakhpur on November 29 due to a local dispute. Main exam on December 27 and 30, 2020. Results: March 11, 2021.

UP Assembly Secretariat: 87 posts advertised in December 2020. Preliminary exam on January 24, 2021. Main exam on February 27, 2021, and typing test on March 14, 2021. Results: March 26, 2021.

There is no data available about the total number of candidates who applied for these exams. Several officials told The Indian Express that the figure was “around 2.5 lakh” in all.

Court records show the Assembly recruitment was contracted to Broadcasting Engineering and Consultancy Services (BECIL), a Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. BECIL hired TSR Data Processing. “We got a contract signed with the Assembly secretariat and we sub-let it further. We can’t say anything more at this juncture as the matter is sub judice,” said Avinash Khanna, Senior Manager, BECIL.

Sources confirmed that Rabhav was tasked by the Council to conduct its recruitment although the secretariat did not divulge the firm’s name in court citing confidentiality of the exam process.

A purported list of those selected for the Assembly secretariat was submitted in High Court by another petitioner, Vipin Kumar Singh, who was also an unsuccessful candidate. Singh alleged, citing OMR answer sheets and typing sheets he obtained through unspecified means, that the qualifying marks were manipulated.

Singh had told the High Court: “The results were never declared in the open for the public at large. Neither was the date of the results disclosed nor the list of candidates finally selected.” The Assembly secretariat told the High Court that “the final result was uploaded on the official website of the respondents namely uplegiassemblyrecruitment.in… Final list for the post of Assistant Review Officer was pasted on the notice board of the office of Legislative Assembly Secretariat.”

When The Indian Express checked the website, the results were missing.