BTC terminates 29 appointees in Transport department; demands enquiry

A CORRESPONDENT

TANGLA: Days after United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) had alleged of flouting of constitutional norms in appointment of 8 Assistant Enforcement Inspectors and 21 Enforcement Checkers in Transport department of BTC, the Principal Secretary BTC has terminated the appointees vide an order No. BTC/Misc/Secy/(BJM)/ACS-02/2020/69 on August 7. The UPPL had alleged nepotism in the appointment where out of the 8 appointees in Assistant Enforcement Inspector, 7 were directly associated with BPF leaders and were wards of officials serving in BTC.

"The BTC conducted an enquiry on allegations of nepotism in recruitment done in the transport department of BTC wherein it is found that those appointments were not preceded by existing Government rules and law relevant there to. The entire process leading to the appointment was totally arbritary as there was no advertisement, publicity, public notice etc, were published," the order read.

It further added that the appointments violated Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution and in pursuance of the approval given by competent authority, the engagements of 8 Assistant Enforcement Inspectors and 21 Enforcement Checkers being illegal and void ab intio are terminated here with.

The terminated appointees included several high profile names including Ronnel Robinson Muchahari, son of former BTC principal secretary, Robinson Muchahari; Kiutu Narzary, the daughter of Kokrajhar DICC office bearer Rahitaswar Narzary; Bhaskar Swrang Basumatary, son of Ringshar Basumatary, an Inspector of Excise Department posted at Chirang; Nichols Basumatary, the son of Rajendra Basumatary who is serving Council Head of Department (CHD) of Excise Department of BTC; Howait Rajbongshi the nephew of Madhab Rajbongshi Personal Assistant (PA) of former BTC Executive Member of Transport, Jagdish Sarkar; Sonali Mahilary, relative of BPF president, Hagrama Mohilary and Kajib Basumatary, the nephew of former Executive Member of BTC, Rajib Brahma.

Pertinently all the appointments and recruitments in Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) are handled by Central Selection Board (CSB) which is headed by a chairman and members.

Also Watch: CHECK OUT: Likham: The Book Made of Gold