Former IAS officer Yogesh Kumar of 1980 batch, has been arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Uttar Pradesh over alleged irregularities in the 2014 recruitment of nearly 1,000 livestock extension officers.
Kumar, 72, was the Principal Secretary of the animal husbandry department when the recruitment process took place in 2014 when Samajwadi party was in power.
The arrest of Kumar ahead of 2027 assembly elections has political connotation. The arrest has allegedly refreshed the lapses in recruitment exercises that has taken place when Akhilesh Yadav was the Chief Minister.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has repeatedly targeted previous governments over alleged recruitment irregularities while projecting his administration's emphasis on transparent, merit-based selection.
What is the case?
The recruitment examination for 1,198 livestock extension officers was held on February 2, 2014 across 17 divisions, excluding Saharanpur. According to the recruitment case details, 1,005 candidates were selected, trained, and appointed.
Later the selection process came under scrutiny over alleged violations of recruitment rules and manipulation of examination marks.
The state government ordered a special investigation team (SIT) probe in December 2017. The SIT police station registered an FIR in 2019 under provisions of the Indian Penal Code relating to criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery, conspiracy, and destruction of evidence, along with provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
According to Police, the prescribed procedure was bypassed when additional directors sought centralised evaluation of OMR sheets, citing a lack of funds and difficulties at the divisional level.
On February 19, 2014, they asked the department's director to appoint an institution to evaluate answer sheets from all 17 divisions.
Vivek Shukla is a management graduate who has worked in corporate worked for 20 years and is now pursuing his passion — news.
