Vyapam renamed as MP Karmachari Chayan Board

Bhopal : The Madhya Pradesh cabinet on Friday renamed the State Professional Examination Board or ‘Vyapam’ as ‘Karmachari Chayan Board’ or ‘Employee Selection Board’.

The decision to rename the examination was taken after a proposal for it was approved by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

It is the second time since the Vyapam scam was exposed in 2013 that it has been renamed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Madhya Pradesh government.

Earlier, it was renamed as Professional Examination Board (PEB) from its original name ‘Vyapam’.

The cabinet has not only decided to rename PEB but also transfer its authority from the Technical Education to the General Administration department.

The department is the sole agency for conducting recruitment exams for the appointment of grade-3 employees of all departments in the state.

“The decision to change the name of Madhya Pradesh PEB was taken in a meeting by the state Cabinet on Friday. The Aayog will now work under the General Administration department,” Home Minister and government spokesman Narottam Mishra said after the cabinet meeting.

The Vyapam scam was unearthed in 2013 wherein candidates had allegedly bribed officials and rigged exams by deploying imposters to write their answer sheets.

Some politicians, senior officials and businessmen were also allegedly involved in the irregularities. The CBI had taken over the probe following the Supreme Court’s judgement in 2015.

Several people, including Vyapam officials, data analysts and computer operators, apart from the former Technical Education Minister Laxmikant Sharma, middlemen, imposters and students who fraudulently made others appear in exams, were named in the Vyapam scam probe which is under the CBI’s supervision.

Interestingly, the decision to rename the board was taken two days after the CBI has filed a chargesheet against 160 more accused, including the chairman of three medical colleges in Madhya Pradesh, for allegedly rigging the 2013 pre-medical test in the multi-crore Vyapam examination and recruitment scam. Therefore, the total number of accused who have been charge-sheeted in the case has reached 650.

The scam involved 13 different exams conducted by Vyapam for selection of medical students and state government employees including food inspectors, transport constables, police personnel, school teachers, dairy supply officials and forest guards where the final results were rigged.