The Odisha Assembly witnessed an uproar and was adjourned till 3 pm today as the Opposition Congress and BJP members demanded a clarification from Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik over alleged scam in the Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) recruitment process.
Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra of Congress raised the issue during Zero Hour and urged Speaker Niranjan Pujari to direct Chief Minister Patnaik to give a statement.
"The House should know from the Chief Minister what action the state government has taken in the alleged recruitment scam," Mishra said, adding Patnaik's office had sought information from the General Administration (GA) Department on the matter.
Citing a letter R Mohapatra, joint secretary to the Chief Minister, wrote to the Principal Secretary of GA Department, Mishra said, "Please look into the matter, if AEE exam of the OPSC is one of the biggest scams like Madhya Pradesh's VYAPAM scam."
The CM's joint secretary Mohapatra also suggested in the letter "appropriate action may please be taken on the above suggestion and suitable reply may please be furnished to this office for kind information of Honourable Chief Minister."
Mishra said the Chief Minister had accepted twitter messages from people on the alleged scam and his office had ordered a probe, hence Patnaik must inform the House about the entire episode.
The matter was also taken to the State Administrative Tribunal, which, on October 6 last, ordered the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) not to publish the final result of the AEE recruitment examination without its permission.
Mishra said the OPSC sought permission from the tribunal to publish the results on January 13.
On February 1, 2016, it published the results, but without getting the nod of the tribunal, he said, adding, a contempt of court case has been made against the OPSC.
Mishra said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik himself handed over appointment letters to 230 persons as AEE on March 2 despite many aspirants raising question over the recruitment procedure.
"Therefore, we want a statement from the Chief Minister as his office sought a report from GA department and he himself handed over appointment letters to candidates," Mishra said.
As the Speaker went ahead with other business not giving a ruling in favour of the LoP's demand, Opposition Congress and BJP rushed to the Well of the House and shouted slogans.
They also attempted to climb on the Speaker's podium. As the din continued, Pujari adjourned the House till 3 pm.
Meanwhile, government chief whip Ananta Das said the Chief Minister should not give any statement in the House as the matter is sub-judice.
Ruling party MLA from Malkangiri Manas Madkami raised Polavaram issue in the House and demanded a discussion.
As the House was adjourned, the ruling party members staged a dharna in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue on the Assembly premises and shouted slogans against the Central government.
They blamed the Centre for allowing Polavaram project at the cost of the tribal people of Malkangiri district.
