Government bypassing all norms to appoint body builders as police officers: K.C. Venugopal

The State government’s decision to appoint body builders as police officers, bypassing all existing norms, is a direct challenge to the unemployed youth of the State, K.C. Venugopal, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary and MP, has said.

In a statement here, he said that the government seems to have bypassed all existing rules to grant appointments to people who are known sympathisers of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)].

Bodybuilding is not recognised as a sports event for appointment under sports quota. The government seems to have bypassed even the GO which says that sports quota appointments cannot be made directly for Inspector appointments. The age limit has also been violated because if the age limit for police appointments is 25 years, the body builders who have been given appointment are 40 and 38 years old, Mr. Venugopal pointed out.

He alleged that CPI(M) sympathisers were being rewarded with direct job appointments, without insisting on a written exam or interview, while those who cleared tests and interviews were being blatantly left in the lurch.

He pointed out that the Cabinet had initially decided in January last year to directly appoint these individuals. However, after the matter became a controversy, a physical fitness test was conducted, in which one candidate allegedly failed. After this candidate made a representation, the government directed the Director General of Police (DGP) to proceed with the appointment without conducting another physical fitness test. But as the government’s term was ending, the order giving appointment was put out in haste, Mr. Venugopal said.

He said that more than two lakh backdoor appointments had been made in the past ten years by the government. He alleged that Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) leaders and their wives have secured several important posts, involving “deals” worth crores.

As the government’s term is ending, it is busy regularising ineligible appointments it had made over the years across departments, corporations and boards, Mr. Venugopal alleged.

He added that the fact that even those who came first in PSC rank lists are not being given appointment, points to the depth of corruption.

Mr. Venugopal said that if the Pinarayi Vijayan government continued in power, all illegal and ineligible appointments would be regularised. He assured that these illegal appointments would be scrutinised and reviewed by the UDF if it came to power.

The UDF will stand firmly with the unemployed youth in the State, he said.