MP govt wants to rename MPPEB after scam dent

Under fire over the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) being rattled by scams, the state government wants to rename it.

The proposal to rename MPPEB, possibly to MP Recruitment and Examination Board, will be tabled in the state Assembly's monsoon session to be convened in July, a state minister has said.

The matter was discussed during the last state Cabinet meeting, he said.

The state government, under fire from the opposition - Congress and students' bodies - over the alleged wrongdoings in MPPEB, wants to rename it in a bid to put to rest the ghost of scams haunting it.

"We have also got a sniff of the government's move to get the name of the MPPEB changed. By doing so, the government cannot get rid of the infamy of the MPPEB that has dented its image nationwide," MP Congress unit's chief spokesman K K Mishra told PTI.

"Our party won't sit quiet till the high and mighty who are being shielded in the scam are not prosecuted," he said.

The MPPEB scam's fire even reached the Raj Bhawan as Governor Ram Naresh Yadav was booked in a forest guard recruitment scam of the board. However, he recently got reprieve when MP High Court quashed an FIR against him saying that he enjoys constitutional immunity against criminal proceedings while being in gubernatorial post.

Yadav's son Shailesh, an accused in teachers recruitment scam of MPPEB, had earlier died under mysterious conditions in Lucknow.

The Governor's Officer on Special Duty, O P Yadav, is in judicial custody for more than a year for his involvement in a recruitment scam of MPPEB.

Besides, former state minister Laxmikant Sharma is also in jail in connection with teachers recruitment scam.

More than 2,000 people have been arrested so far and over 650 are still wanted in connection with the scam.

MPPEB's image has been battered by scams in PMT from 2008 to 2013, pre-PG medical course 2012, contractual teachers' eligibility test 2011, subedar and platoon commander test 2012, police constable test 2012, forest guard recruitment test 2013, data entry operator test 2012 and traffic constable recruitment test 2012.

The scam is being probed by MP Special Task Force which is being monitored by Special Investigation Team (SIT) head by retired High Court Justice Chandresh Bhushan, following MP High Court's order.