Priyanka Gandhi equates UP teachers' appointment matter with Vyapam scam

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday termed the matter relating to the appointment of 69,000 teachers in UP's Basic Education department as the state's "Vyapam scam".

The Congress leader also said that if the government does not give justice to hard-working youth in this matter, they would resort to an agitation.

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday stayed the appointment of 69,000 assistant basic teachers in the state, holding that there has been an 'error' in the evaluation of question paper

"The facts of anomalies in this matter are not normal. Involvement of racket, names of students in diaries, transaction of money, anomalies in examination centres points that its links are vast," she said in a series of tweets.

"Recruitment of 69,000 teachers is UP's Vyapam scam," she said.

The Vyapam scam refers to irregularities in exams held by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board, also called Vyavasayik Pareeksha Mandal or Vyapam, for admission in professional courses and state services.

The Congress leader said, "Injustice should not be meted to hard-working youth. If government cannot give justice, its reply will be given with agitation".

The Lucknow bench of Justice Alok Mathur on June 3 had stayed the selection process, prima facie finding that certain questions and answers were 'ambiguous and wrong' and, hence, it required fresh scrutiny by the UGC.

The HC bench had held that there has been an 'error' in the evaluation of question paper.

The recruitment examination was held on January 6, 2019 and its result was declared on May 12 this year.

Earlier, the Supreme Court on May 21 had asked the state government to explain the process adopted for the appointment through a chart, posting the matter for further hearing on July 6.

It asked the Uttar Pradesh government to explain why it changed the earlier criteria of 45 per cent cut-off marks for the general category and 40 per cent for the reserved category.

The UP government has challenged the high court order.