Staff Reporter :The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Wednesday filed cases against 53 government and private officials, including four deputy secretaries, on charge of appointing disqualified candidates in the Directorate of Food under the Food Ministry. Assistant-Director and Investigative Officer of ACC Md Monirul Islam filed the cases with the Shahbagh Police Station at 3pm on Wednesday. The ACC said in the cases that the accused officials giving extra marks helped the disqualified candidates got appointment. The accused officials bagged huge money from the candidates who are now working in different districts as Food Inspectors. The accused senior officials are Deputy Secretary of Textile and Jute Ministry Nasima Begum (former Deputy Secretary of Food and Disaster Ministry), Deputy Secretary of Public Administration Ministry Rokeya Khatun (former Senior Assistant Secretary of the same ministry), Deputy Secretary of Public Service Commission Md Mahabubur Rahman Faruqui (former Deputy Director of the commission), Deputy Secretary of Public Administration Iftekhar Ahmed (former Deputy Director of Ministry of Establishment) and Director of Food Directorate Elahi Dad Khan. They were the members of selection board. The accused private service holders are Ayub Ali, Asadur Rahman, Arif Hossain and Abul Quasem of Development, an Information and Technology based organisation. The Directorate of Food appointed 328 Food Inspectors on May 5 last year. The ACC identified 44 Food Inspectors who managed the job giving huge amount of money to the accused officials.The ACC also filed cases against the 44 Food Inspectors. They are Food Inspectors Md Tajul Islam working in Sariatpur Sadar Upazial, Jahirul Islam in Companiganj Upazial and Jakir Hossain Md Rezwanur Rahman in Sylhet Sadar, Asma Rahman in Boalmari, Asma Islam in Horirampur, Jahanara Joli in Bianibazar, Aliur Rahman in Sherpur, Sanjida Sultana in Jamalpur Sadar, Umme Hani in Kishorgonj, Md Mohaiminul Islam Bhuiyan in Rangpur, Jesmin Akhter in Niphamari, Md Rayhan Kabir in Syedpur, Shariful Islam in Rangpur, Billa Hossain in Debhata, Abul Hashem in Bagerhat, Israt Jahan Mona in Patuakhali, Arifa Sultana in Barguna and Ashis Kumar Ray in Dirai Upazial of Sunamganj. It may be mentioned that the Directorate of Food invited applications for 552 Food Inspector posts in 2010 and received 3,87,437 applications. Of them, 15,230 candidates were successful in written examination. The Viva-Voce started in 2013 and the appointment process was completed on May 5 in 2014. It was a wide spread allegation that the irregularities lied in the appointment process.
