Another appointment scam in Assembly secretariat

Sans advertisement or interview, 13 workers appointed as permanent staffers

By Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, July 13: Days after 38 daily-wage workers engaged illegally at the Assembly secretariat were sacked, another glaring appointment scam has come to light in the State Assembly secretariat.

A number of permanent staff at the Assembly secretariat were appointed without following any procedure. The posts were not advertised nor any interviews held.

The appointments were made in connivance with some secretariat officials, during the tenure of former Speaker Prab Kumar Gogoi. The role of an additiol secretary has come under scanner in the illegal appointments.

A number of these appointments were given on March 4, the day on which the notification for assembly election was published, enforcing the model code of conduct.

As many as 13 staff – Mousumi Gogoi (LD assistant), Mash Acharjee (LD assistant), Ashok Deka (translator), Jinti Das (LD assistant), Bithika Gogoi (caretaker), Tribhuban rayan Borgohain (typist), Monoj Kumar Deka (typist), Prithoo Saikia (typist), Govinda Seal (telephone operator), Dibakar Das (mali), Dilip Das (mali), Paran Chutia (chowkidar) and Rupam Dewri (peon) – were allegedly appointed in sheer violation of the Supreme Court ruling delivered in the Uma Devi case which necessitates holding of interviews for any regular appointment.

Jinti Das (43), appointed as LD assistant, happens to be the wife of Assembly secretariat special officer Atul Talukdar.

Some of these newly appointed permanent staff were shown to have worked as daily-wage employees for two to six months. However, the secretariat has daily-wage workers like differently-abled Kaljit Singh who have been working for more than 15 years.

Meanwhile, RTI activist Dulal Bora has lodged a case at Dispur police station over the illegal appointments. A team from Dispur police visited the Assembly secretariat yesterday as part of the investigations.

Speaker Ranjit Kumar Das yesterday called the staff – whose appointments are under scanner – to his office and asked them to deposit a copy of their appointment letters to the Speaker’s office.

A few stenographers were also appointed on March 4 last. Though interviews were held for the posts, there are allegations of bias in some of these appointments as well.

There have been allegations of other irregular appointments during the tenure of previous Speaker Prab Kumar Gogoi, in the course of which no advertisements were issued or interviews conducted. 

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