A special court on Monday awarded 14-year of imprisonment to former Assam Public Service Commission chairman Rakesh Paul in connection with a cash-for-jobs case related to recruitment of agricultural development officers in the state.
Two other former APSC members – Basanta Kumar Doley and Samedur Rahman – were awarded 10 years of imprisonment. Special Judge Dipankar Thakuria also pronounced serve jail sentence of four years to 29 others.
Paul and the two former members were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of seven years. They were awarded punishment in connection with a case of cheating, another seven years for forgery, and 10 years for cases registered under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
In the case of Paul, the sentence will run consecutively, but with the CrPC stating that a person convicted in such a case can be in prison for a maximum of 14 years, he will serve the sentence for 14 years.
The sentence, in the case of Doley and Rahman, will run concurrently and they will be in jail for 10 years.
Paul, along with Doley and Rahman, and other officials were convicted in the case for tampering marks of candidates who had appeared in the ADO recruitment examination.
An aspirant, who had failed to qualify for the test, had registered a complaint and a case was filed, alleging that marks of another candidate had been increased in lieu of financial transactions.
The judge ruled that Paul held a constitutional post and was expected to lead the way for other members of the commission to recruit deserving candidates for various government posts, but failed to do so and under his leadership, undeserving candidates were selected to the posts of ADO, depriving meritorious ones.
“Paul deserves to be given the maximum punishment under the law, having orchestrated the entire series of illegal and corrupt acts involved in this case,” Thakuria said.
The judge further said in view of the “matter and considering the seriousness of the nature of the offences committed by Paul, the sentences imposed on him ought to run consecutively and not concurrently”.
However, as per provisions of the CrPC, which states that in “no case such a person be sentenced to imprisonment for a longer period than 14 years”, Paul, though awarded consecutive sentences, will be in jail for 14 years, Thakuria observed.
The remaining 29 convicts, all recruited as ADO officers, have been sentenced to four years of rigorous imprisonment.
The period of imprisonment already undergone by those convicted in the case shall be set aside as per law, the special judge said.
Paul has been in judicial custody for five years and seven months, Doley for two years and nine months, Rahman for two years and two months and the others since July 22, when they were convicted.
(With PTI inputs)
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