CBI Should Join FBI In Titanium Scam Case: Dr. JP

Loksatta Party national President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan today wanted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to work closely with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which has unearthed a scam involving Indian politicians in grant of licenses for titanium exploration.

In a media statement, Dr. JP demanded a speedy and efficient investigation into the case and stringent punishment for the guilty. "The culprits should be removed from office and sentenced to rigorous jail terms. In addition, the Government should confiscate all their properties," he said.

Dr. JP recalled that the Loksatta succeeded in getting the 122 arbitrarily and illegally granted 2G spectrum licenses cancelled by the Supreme Court. The Union Government has so far realized Rs. 50,000 crores by re-auctioning the spectrum, he said.

The Loksatta, he pointed out, has always fought for allocation of scarce natural resources, through transparent and competitive international bidding, and imposition of a windfall profits tax, as in Britain. Had these two measures been in place, scams relating to allocation of telecom spectrum, iron ore and coal mines, and titanium exploration now, could have been averted, he said.

Dr. JP appreciated Governor E. S. L. Narasimhan's action in cancelling the post-graduate medical entrance examination.

It may be recalled that the Governor had ordered a CID inquiry following a representation from Dr. JP about malpractices in the examination with evidence.

Dr. JP said that as of today a number of graduate and post-graduate medical seats are sold illegally in the name of management quota. If seats to be filled through a competitive examination too are sold by resort to malpractices like leakage of question papers, there will be no place for hard working and meritorious poor and middle class students, he lamented.

Dismissal from jobs, long and rigorous jail terms, and confiscation of the entire property of the guilty alone will deter perpetration of such malpractices and ensure justice to the meritorious, Dr. JP said.

The scam in the PG medical entrance examination should be taken as an opportunity to order a comprehensive review of all competitive examinations, Dr. JP added. He pointed out that the AP Public Service Commission has not done justice so far to candidates who took the examination for economics junior lecturers' recruitment even after it was found there were more than 50 percent errors in the key to the question paper. (INN)