The Hindu : New Delhi News : Law & Order

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Law & Order

It is essential that the antecedents of the recruits are verified at regular intervals, says Devesh K. Pandey

Army recruitment process comes under a shadow

In the wake of shocking disclosure this past week about alleged links of three Army soldiers with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant outfit in Jammu and Kashmir, questions are being raised over the method employed to cross-check the antecedents of people entrusted with the task of protecting the country from both foreign and home-grown enemies. In fact, there have been instances here in the Capital in the past exposing gross shortcomings in the recruitment procedure.

Revelations made by those arrested by the Delhi police about three years ago on charges of running a racket guaranteeing jobs in the Army on the basis of forged documents were an eye-opener. The racket run in the garb of a physical training centre was unearthed when the police arrested a former Army Medical Corps Naik, Ram Sewak. Investigations revealed that Ram Sewak used to arrange identification papers, all forged, for candidates who paid for the "extra" work.

At his instance, the police arrested a tout and a deputy director with the Ministry of Food and Consumer Affairs on charges of supplying forged papers like ration cards and caste, domicile and character certificates. Surprisingly, it came to light that the entire business of forged papers was being managed in collusion with certain junior government functionaries posted with different Sub-Divisonal Magistrate (SDM) offices.

The "efficiency" with which the racket was being run can be gauged from the fact that it had permeated deep into the bureaucratic set-up. The police claimed that the tout had links with the staff of various SDM offices.

He allegedly disclosed that the clerks charged Rs. 2,500 to Rs.6, 500 for clearing domicile and caste certificates duly signed by the SDMs.

While huge piles of fake domicile, caste, ration cards, mark-sheets and character certificates were seized during the operation, the police were shocked when they recovered several secret verification forms of Army personnel undergoing training at various places.

Those forms were actually meant to be sent by the Army to the authorities concerned for verification of respective recruits.

In 2004, the police arrested another tout and his men on charges of running a similar but bigger racket. Subsequently, two bailiffs and a clerk at the Rampura SDM office in North-West Delhi were arrested for allegedly supplying forged documents that were used by applicants during tests at the Independent Recruitment Office of Gopinath Bazar in Delhi Cantonment, where direct recruitments of tradesman for the technical trade, the Medical Corps and Ground Duty Staff are conducted.

Besides, the bailiffs allegedly authenticated the genuineness of the candidates whose papers were sent to the SDM's office for verification.

In April 2005, three more men, including a Military Engineering Service functionary and a retired Army man, were arrested on charges of supplying forged documents to those applying for jobs in the armed forces.

In the wake of these astonishing disclosures, the Army had reportedly initiated a thorough enquiry into the matter and even singled out those who had used forged papers during the recruitment process. Military Intelligence had also collected details of the cases from the police to pursue the matter further.

Though the Army has in place measures to screen out people with doubtful integrity, experts think it is essential that the antecedents of the recruits are verified at regular intervals. Until the local administrative bodies, whose services are availed of for verification, are not rid of corrupt people, the Army should bank on its own infrastructure for this sensitive job.

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