PANAJI
A defensive Health Minister on Wednesday denied no wrongdoing in the process of recruitment of employees in his department.While responding to queries about the allegations levelled by Aam Aadmi Party leader Amit Palekar, HM said that the matter was sub judice and accused Palekar of trying to seek “front page” publicity. In response to comments made by his fellow Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Atanasio Monserrate about the Health Ministry offering jobs by the bulk to candidates from Sattari, HM said that the recruitment was done on merit.
“I do not know. Someone told me the matter is in court, the matter is sub judice. I cannot comment on it. I cannot stop anyone from making statements. There are days of election. Everyone wants to be front page news in the media,” HM said when asked about accusations made by Palekar, who had alleged large-scale rigging in the recruitment carried out by the Health Ministry.
“I do not want to speak anything about it because the statistics related to whatever has happened is sub judice and it would not be right on my part to speak about it. Whatever our department has done has been done the right way and properly. There is no meaning to these allegations,” HM also said.
Reacting to accusations made by Monserrate in his speech in the presence of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday, during which he said that applicants from Sattari were hogging the lion's share, the health minister said: “This is what you think. This is not the case. If someone wants more (jobs) it is not in my hands. Everything is done on merit”.
