Job seekers protesting against JKSSB detained in Jammu
A day after they were cane-charged at Dogra Chowk in Jammu, hundreds of jobseekers assembled at Ambedkar Park here and staged a protest against Aptech, the company which they said was blacklisted in 2019
Dozens of job aspirants were on Thursday detained during their protest against the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) for engaging a tainted agency to conduct written exams for various posts in government departments.
A day after they were cane-charged at Dogra Chowk, hundreds of jobseekers assembled at Ambedkar Park here and staged a protest against Aptech, the company which they said was blacklisted in 2019.
When they tried to proceed towards the divisional commissioner’s office, a strong posse of policemen stopped and detained dozens of them. They were taken to the police lines in Gandhi Nagar and released in the evening.
Vinkal Sharma, one of the protesters, said, “This company (Aptech) is blacklisted in many states and in the last two months, it has leaked many crucial national-level exams. The JKSSB did not learn anything from its frauds and has hired it again.”
Kartik Bhagat, another job aspirant, said they have four core demands -- immediate withdrawal of the exam calendar released by JKSSB, removal of Aptech from conducting government recruitments, technical investigation into exams conducted by Aptech and a stern action against those involved in paper leak scams.
Later, an eight-member delegation of ‘Youth Against Corruption’ met Jammu divisional commissioner Ramesh Kumar and gave him a written memorandum of their demands. Kumar assured that their memorandum will be sent to the government.
On Wednesday, the police resorted to cane-charging after protesters tried to disrupt traffic movement at busy Dogra Chowk, where the administration had imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC.
A senior JKSSB official said the protest was unjustified as the matter pertaining to the hiring of Aptech was subjudice. “The company was hired as per the central and J&K governments’ guidelines as it completed the blacklisting period of three years in May last year,” he added.
The agency was blacklisted by several states and the Delhi High Court had even imposed a penalty of ₹10 lakh on the company for alleged malpractices in recruitment. In December last year, the Jammu and Kashmir high court had made strong observations against the tainted agency.
Uproar continues in Srinagar
Several aspirants also staged a protest in Srinagar, which entered its second day on Thursday with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president, Mehbooba Mufti, claiming that the decision of conducting exams through Aptech would sabotage the future of youths.
“JKSSB’s decision to continue with a fraudulent blacklisted company indicates how deeply entrenched corruption is in J&K. Bureaucrats responsible for this continue to enjoy their positions at the cost of future of J&K’s youth,” she said.
National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah, while condemning the lathicharge on protesting aspirants, said, “This contract must immediately be cancelled. What is the point of blacklisting a company if it is going to be awarded plum contracts. This contract is even more dangerous because it puts at risk the future of scores of aspirants who rely on JKSSB to conduct recruitment exams.”