Those trying to play with future of youths won't be spared: UP CM Yogi Adityanath

After a series of arrests in a 2018 Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission exam paper leak case, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said people trying to play with the future of youths will be put behind bars. His statement came after the commission’s examination controller Anjulata Katiyar was arrested on Thursday in connection with the leak of a question paper of the LT Grade exam held in July 2018.

Katiyar was arrested after a Kolkata-based printing press owner, Kaushik Kumar Kar, revealed her role in the paper leak following his arrest by the special task force of police in Varanasi on May 28. Police have registered a case against Katiyar, Kar, and seven others in the matter. So far, nine people have been arreested in connection to the same.

Speaking to reporters in Lucknow, Adityanath said, "We will definitely act against those indulging in committing irregularities. During the previous regime, there were irregularities in different recruitment examinations".

"I would like to assure the youth of Uttar Pradesh that people who are trying to play with the future of the youth, will be sent behind bars. We will not allow anyone to play their future," he added.

Hitting out at the previous Samajwadi Party government in the state, the chief minister further said, "The irregularities in the (state) public service commission are a sin committed and mess created by the SP. A campaign has been launched to clean the mess. The government is working with a policy of zero tolerance and the guilty will be punished no matter how prominent or influential he is".

Adityanath said that no one will be allowed to rob the people of the state of their rights, adding that the administration acts as a bridge between the government and the public. The administration has great responsibility for executing the plans on the ground and for this it should be alert and functional, Adityanath asserted.

"We have to fight both crime and corruption in the state. In the last 15 years, previous governments had supported corruption. Politics was criminalised. Transfers and postings were business for them. But our government has taken stern actions from the beginning to prevent all the frauds and corruption that had been spread by the previous governments," media quoted Adityanath as saying.

The chief minister stated that his government will not allow anybody to "play with law and order in the state and we have worked in this direction". Adityanath said the work done by Uttar Pardesh in law and order has been appreciated across the country.

Actions have been taken against those who were found rigging the recruitment process of the UPPSC, he added. "Usually, the government does not interfere in the work of the public service commission, but it is also the responsibility of the government to maintain its autonomy, purity and transparency," the chief minister said.

Complaints were filed and the government has taken stern steps against the corrupt, Adityanath reiterated.