DM orders probe into job racket

Statesman News Service

MALDA, 9 AUG.: The Malda district magistrate Mr Sridhar Ghosh has asked the police and vigilance department to start an inquiry into an allegation that a racket, comprising an enlisted contractor of Malda zilla parishad and a top government officer, is collecting money from job seekers applying for various posts in panchayats.

After receiving an anonymous letter and complaint, the district magistrate Mr Ghosh addressed a Press conference and sought the media's help as part of its investigation when the recruitment process is going on.

The chairman of the recruitment board, an additional district magistrate, Mr Kajal Banerjee, has approached the district magistrate and also demanded an investigation into maintaining the status-quo of the recruitment process.

“I suspect it is simply a conspiracy to create problems and misunderstandings among the administrative officials and to malign some-one,” he said.

"I decided to start an inquiry into the matter and disclose the anonymous letter, partly to ensure that job seekers do not offer money to any person to get a service. Qualifications and the quality of a candidate will be judged in the written and personality tests,” Mr Ghosh, the Malda DM, said.

According to the district magistrate, the letter claimed: “A top administrative officer has used the name of the district magistrate and claimed additional money.”

One Mr Dhananjoy Ghosh, changing his original name, wrote letters to three district officials including the district magistrate and claimed that he had recorded the voice of a top officer when he was receiving a huge amount of money from a particular person, claiming additional money as the district magistrate's 'share'.

Even the officer does not bother about the DM and said ‘I am the king maker’, the letter claimed.

The district magistrate has urged the anonymous letter writer to submit the encriminating CD to him or the Malda SP.

In a letter to the DM, the anonymous writer mentioned three names in the racket but the district magistrate will not disclose these names without verification through an investigation.