UP government sacks 1,300 Jal Nigam employees

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government in a single stroke sacked 1,300 Jal Nigam employees appointed during the previous Samajwadi Party regime on the ground of faulty selection process.

Additional Chief Engineer of UP Jal Nigam, IK Srivastav, in an order issued on Monday dismissed 122 assistant engineers, 853 junior engineers and 325 clerks from the date of their appointment following inquiry by a special investigation team (SIT) and the department.

Senior Samajwadi Party leader Mohammad Azam Khan, now in jail in connection with a forgery case, was the minister of the department which looked after the Jal Nigam at the time of the recruitment in 2016-17.

A senior government official said the recruitment has been set aside based on the departmental inquiry and a report from the SIT.

The SIT was formed by the Yogi government in 2017 to investigate allegations of irregularities in the selection process.

The SIT found that proper selection process was not adopted and pointed out faulty working of the Mumbai-based private firm, hired for conducting the examination for the recruitment.

Soon after the completion of the selection process, several candidates had moved the court, alleging irregularities in selection.

The assistant engineers were earlier dismissed by the Yogi government but they had got a reprieve from the Supreme Court.

A fresh order to cancel their appointment has now been issued based on fresh reports, the official added.

The official said action will also be taken against the Mumbai firm and the candidates who were illegally selected.

The order issued by Srivastava said the salary and allowances etc will, however, not be recovered from the dismissed employees.