Chandigarh, June 14: After a senior IAS officer of the education department in Haryana sought a CBI probe into alleged massive bungling in the appointment of 4000 teachers, chief minister Om Prakash Chautala today dismissed the charges saying jobs were being given "purely on the basis of merit" and accused the officer of being "corrupt". "The jobs are being given purely on the basis of merit by the present government, whereas these used to be auctioned during the tenure of the previous government," Chautala said while speaking at a function in Bhiwani.

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to Chautala, state government and the vigilance chief on a petition filed by education department official Sanjiv Kumar who alleged that the Chief Minister and his aides had been harassing him as he had refused to include their nominees in the list of primary teachers.

The petitioner said that he had been put under suspension by the state government on the basis of unfounded allegations.
Dismissing Kumar's allegations, Chautala instead charged him of being "corrupt".

Regarding the agitation of the Bharatiya Kisan Union to press for their demand to release their jailed leader Ghasi Ram Nain, behind bars on treason charges, Chautala said, "It is politically motivated and aimed at vitiating the peaceful atmosphere of the state.”

"Nobody will be allowed to take law into their hands," an official release here quoted Chautala as having said. "The BKU has been playing in the hands of some political parties," he said and added the state government had always upheld the farmers' interests.

Bureau Report