Hooda confidant resigns after court rap
Chandigarh, Jan 2 (IANS) Haryana School Teachers Selection Board (HSTSB) chairman Nand Lal Poonia, a confidant of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, resigned from his post Thursday after a recent rap from the state high court.
Poonia, a retired brigadier, was appointed chairman of Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) by Hooda in 2005 and benefited when the state government raised the retirement age from 65 to 68 years. He later became the HSTSB chairman.
A state government spokesman said Brig.(retd.) Poonia had tendered his resignation and it has been accepted by the government. Board member Gian Chand Sahota would be acting chairman of HSTSB till further orders, he added.
The high court had, last month, asked the Haryana government to take appropriate action against Poonia in view of adverse remarks made against him by another division bench of the high court in September last year.
The high court had earlier questioned the role of Poonia, then the HSSC chairman, in the selections of 1,983 physical training instructors made in 2010. It ruled that Poonia deviated from the decision taken by the HSSC and had given a "safe passage" to hundreds of candidates through inflated marks in the viva voce.
Another division bench, headed by Chief Justice Sanjay Krishan Kaul, had last month said that in view of the adverse remarks, the appropriate authority (Haryana government) would take a decision on his (Poonia's) future "within a reasonable time".