The cancellation of the scheduled oath taking ceremony of the newly appointed Chairperson of Himachal State Public Service Commission (HPSC) along with three members have raised questions.
The state government had notified appointment of Dr Rachna Gupta as Chairperson of HPSC on Wednesday evening along with three members i.e. Rakseh Sharma, Rajesh Kumar Sharma and Prof. (DR) Om Prakash Sharma.
The oath taking ceremony was also scheduled for Thursday morning at 8.30 am in the state Raj Bhawan and oath was to be administered by Himachal Pradesh Governor Rajender Vishvanth Arlekar but was cancelled early morning today.
Though, the actual reason for cancellation by the sources was cited to be busy scheduled of the Governor as CM Jai Ram Thakur and the Governor left on their official tours of Kangra district later but there are reports “the oath taking ceremony was purportedly cancelled after e-mails sent to the Governor and HP High Court Chief Justice by a RTI activist Debashish Bhattacharya.”
It is also being said , ” Certain BJP and RSS leaders are not happy with the appointment of HPSC chairperson and had reportedly taken up this matter with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) New Delhi.”
Debashish Bhattacharya said,” As per Supreme Court orders the state government was directed to advertise the post of HPSC chairperson and members and also constitute a selection committee for making the appointments by legislation and government notification.”
“ Since the state government had neither passed a legislation or framed rules I had sent e-mails to the Governor and the Chief Justice of HP High Court yesterday after the notification”, he added.
Meanwhile, state Congress vice president Naresh Chauhan has asked the Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur to clarify “why were appointments made in a tearing hurry and then the oath ceremony cancelled.”
He has accused the state government “For making appointments in HPSC with a clear motive to fill up a large number of posts before the Assembly election by appointing their favourites in the Commission.”