Itanagar: The Joint Committee Against Null & Void Demand (JCAN&VD) has expressed its strong opposition to the ‘null and void’ demand of APPSC examinations as put forward by the Pan Arunachal Joint Steering Committee (PAJSC).
The JCAN&VD, a newly formed organization “representing the government employees of 11 batches directly affected by the ‘null & void’ demand”, said that the “demand is not unjust but the scale, dimensions of the negative repercussions are far reaching and severe.”
The organization in a representation submitted to the chief secretary on Wednesday said that if the ‘null & void’ demand is accepted by the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) a total of 977 people including 518 teachers would be unemployed overnight.
“An en masse termination of so many officers will cripple the state’s administrative machinery and will also cause severe strain on the various developmental activities which are going on and these officers are instrumental in their execution and it is also not permissible in law,” the JCAN&VD said.
The organization said that the campaign against the alleged malpractices (APPSC paper leak) led by the PAJSC, has lost its direction and the fight for a corruption free recruiting system has been hijacked by the unreasonable demand of ‘null & void’ of all exams conducted by APPSC where the alleged sale of question paper or any irregularities has been found since 2014.
The JCAN&VD said the affected government employees has remained acutely aware of their responsibility to serve the people and the state as even when the demands for ‘null & void’ came to fore and gradually gained momentum fuelled by the social media campaign of PAJSC, they reposed complete faith and confidence on the wisdom of the government.
“Our intention through this representation is to secure indemnity for the innocent government employees/officers who have been recruited by virtue of their hard-work and competence. It is our ardent request that the government should not be swayed by the tide of overwhelming public opinion and deprive us of our fundamental rights or go against the rules of natural justice,” the representation read.
Putting forward some appeal in front of the government, the JCAN&VD said the only way that justice can be done to deserving candidates is by allowing the investigation process to complete. “Without proper investigation, the innocent can’t be separated from the guilty ones. Painting entire batches in the same colour would be a travesty of the principles of natural justice. Therefore, it’s our prayer that the government take all measures possible to expedite the process of apprehending the guilty and cleaning up the system. Ensuring prompt and transparent investigation is sine qua non for bringing about a just and amicable resolution to this crisis,” it said.
The JCAN&VD further stated that all the government employees directly affected by the ‘null & void’ demand would voluntarily give consent to any level of investigation by a competent authority/investigation agency.
“Despite our innocence, it appears that we have been clubbed together with the guilty and summarily convicted. Therefore, in order to establish our innocence and help the ongoing investigations, we voluntarily give our written consent for sanctioning any level/type of investigation against any/all of us, should it be deemed necessary,” it said.
The JCAN&VD has also appealed to the state government to take back its decision to send the demand of ‘null & void’ to the APPSC for consideration.
Download the full representation here:
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