Team Herald
PANJIM: The Opposition Congress Party and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday demanded to immediately scrap the recruitment of LDCs in the South Goa Collectorate and to order an inquiry by a Judicial Commission following allegations of “cash for jobs” scam.
The Congress demanded that the Revenue Minister Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate must either resign immediately or be dismissed by the Chief Minister followed by an inquiry into the recruitment process. The people of Goa deserve transparency and accountability from the government and restore public trust.
Endorsing the statement made by INDIA Bloc partner Goa Forward Party president and MLA Vijai Sardesai with regards to ‘cash for jobs’ scam in South Goa Collectorate, AAP State president Adv Amit Palekar said that the scam needs to be probed immediately by setting up a Judicial Commission under a retired High Court Judge. Job scam under the BJP government had become rule of the day, he said demanding that the Chief Minister should scrap the recruitment process immediately.
As many as 13,937 candidates had applied for the 92 posts of LDC, for which the process started in January 2019. The public notice for exams was issued in April 2023 and the written exams were conducted in October 2023. The skill test was conducted in February 2024 and on September 9, 2024 the results were declared.
According to GFP president Vijai Sardesai, many candidates who had passed written exams were declared failed in skill test. He said that some candidates complained to him that a woman telephonically demanded money and when they refused, they were declared failed in skill test. He further said that 90 per cent of the appointments were from North Goa district. He alleged that the Staff Selection Commission which was supposed to bring neutrality and fairness in the selection process had been bypassed and withdrawn legislatively three times in the last one year. Therefore the trend of bypassing standardised recruitment process raised concerns about the transparency and fairness in the recruitment process, Sardesai said and called upon the government to halt the recruitment process immediately.