Rajasthan Governor Haribhai Bagade on Monday accepted the resignation of Manju Sharma from the controversy-ridden Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC), two weeks after she submitted her resignation following critical remarks by the Rajasthan High Court in a paper leak case.
In a statement, the Raj Bhawan said that Sharma’s resignation has been accepted.
Wife of poet Kumar Vishwas, Sharma had submitted her resignation from RPSC days after the Rajasthan High Court made remarks critical of her and other RPSC members, while cancelling the 2021 sub-inspector recruitment.
The HC had cancelled the contentious 2021 exam owing to a paper leak, following what it said was “systemic corruption” in the RPSC involving its members and issues both in the written and interview stages.
Having been conducted during the Ashok Gehlot government – his personal security officer is among those arrested – the examination had been at the centre of a political slugfest between the Congress and the incumbent BJP. So far, over 120 accused, including over 50 trainee sub-inspectors, have been arrested.
In her letter addressed to Governor Haribhau Bagade two weeks ago, Sharma wrote, “I have spent my entire working and personal life working with utmost transparency and honesty, but due to a controversy that arose in a recruitment process recently, my personal reputation and the dignity of the entire commission have been affected.”
She pointed out that “no investigation of any kind is pending against me in any police institution or any investigation agency, nor have I ever been considered an accused in any case”.
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“Nevertheless, being always in favour of purity in public life, and considering the dignity, impartiality and transparency of the Commission as paramount, I am voluntarily submitting my resignation from the post,” Sharma wrote.
The HC had said that she and others had compromised the integrity of the examination. “Through their active participation in, or knowledge of, the leakage of papers and prejudicing of the interview process, RPSC Members Babu Lal Katara, Ramuram Raika, Manju Sharma, Sangeeta Arya, Jaswant Rathi and Chairman Sanjay Shrotiya enabled the systemic and large-scale compromise of the examination’s integrity,” the HC said in its August 28 order.
The court had also termed as “alarming” the “active connivance and involvement of several other members of the Commission, including Manju Sharma, Sangeeta Arya, and Jaswant Rathi. As per the charge-sheet, these members had complete knowledge of the transactions and malpractices ensuing between members of the Commission for personal gains.”
The HC had said that systemic corruption within the RPSC compromised “the recruitment process’s credibility at both interview and written examination stages.”
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Sharma has a PhD and an MA in Geography. Earlier, she was an Associate Professor at the government MSJ PG college in Bharatpur.
