The government-appointed committee’s report has, however, raised fresh questions about the legality of the contracting process through which 1,200 young aspirants from Jammu and Kashmir were recruited in the police force last year.
By Jehangir Ali
New Delhi: A government panel tasked with an investigation failed to flag a key change made by Aptech Limited to a contract which was floated in 2022 by Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) for written examinations for sub-inspector posts in the police force. While the panel highlighted other changes it did not point out that a noteworthy edit ensured Aptech Limited evaded a clause related to investigations ongoing against it.
The findings of the probe committee, which was formed in the backdrop of a letter from the Union home ministry last year, have cast a shadow on the integrity of the process through which Aptech, a Mumbai-based listed company, bagged the contract for conducting a ‘computer-based test’ (CBT) for SI posts in J&K. The results of these were declared in November last year.
A three-member committee headed by IAS officer R.K. Goyal, who was then posted as additional chief secretary in J&K’s Home Department, was set up on August 22 last year to probe whether all the legal and financial conditions were fulfilled by M/s Aptech Ltd when it bagged the JKSSB contract.
However, the committee’s report has raised fresh questions about the legality of the contracting process through which 1,200 young aspirants from Jammu and Kashmir were recruited in the police force last year.
Of these, more than 1,000 sub-inspectors are from Jammu division while only 120 aspirants from Kashmir made it to the final selection list.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.