Row over alleged malpractice in Village Secretariat examinations

Visakhapatnam: The happiness of the Andhra Pradesh government for completing the Village Secretariat examination within the proposed time wasn’t long-lived. On Thursday, Andhra CM Jagan Mohan Reddy had released one of the biggest recruitment results in AP history and congratulated the officials for effectively completing the process. However, it seems that an allegation of the paper leak has found its way into the issue.

The allegations explain that one outsourcing employee and the kith and kin of Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) employees primarily benefited from the leak. The news has come as a shock to everyone who appeared for the examinations, as everybody believed that the tests were conducted in a foolproof manner

TDP President Chandrababu Naidu took to Twitter to slam the government for allegedly resorting to malpractice in the Secretariat examinations by posting a news item published in a major Telugu Daily. “When a corrupt person gets into power, the results will be more corruption,” he tweeted.

As the news of the paper leak broke out, a few candidates reached the APPSC office to stage a protest. They demanded to cancel all village secretariat examinations and reconduct them. However, Panchayati Raj Minister P Ramachandra Reddy condemned the allegations and declared that the examinations were conducted in a reliable manner. He concluded that the news of malpractice is intended to damage the government’s prestige.

The entire Village Secretariat examination procedure was completed within two months. The results saw the selection of 1.9 lakh candidates to fill 1.26 lakh jobs across 11,158 villages. There are reports that APPSC is conducting a confidential inquiry in the allegations. As per sources, the vigilance department has also focused on the issue, and a thorough investigation is ongoing.