Six candidates from Rajasthan had applied for the grade-III mali post. (Express Archive)
After attending a 100-mark paper on general knowledge, science and trade-related questions, six men from Rajasthan managed to crack the mali (gardener) grade-III exam, effectively getting them placed as gardeners at the President’s Secretariat, Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Now, the six have been charged under sections of cheating and forgery, and their letter of appointments set to be terminated, after it was found that they submitted fake experience letter certificates.
The Delhi Police has started a probe into the matter after a complaint was registered at South Avenue police station. The complaint was given by the under secretary, Rubina Chauhan, who wrote: “In the process of verification of testimonials, it has been found that the following candidates got their job on the submission of fake certificates.”
DCP (New Delhi) Madhur Verma confirmed that a case has been registered at South Avenue police station. “No arrest has been made so far. We will examine the documents that are provided in the case,” he said.
The complaint has named six candidates from Rajasthan, who had applied for the grade-III mali post through “direct recruitment in the work changed establishment of the President’s gardens, President’s Secretariat”.
The mali grade-III, as per a 2017 circular by the President’s Secretariat, has a total of 58 vacancies, now upgraded to 66, for candidates in the age group of 18-30. The salary range offered for a gardener is in the range of Rs 18,000-56,900.
However, exams for the job are no easy task, with a hundred-mark paper for general awareness, Class X science and trade-related questions. Candidates must also have a skill certificate as a gardener from the National Skill Qualification Framework or a gardening training certificate from the Indian Agriculture Research Institute or any other horticulture university or institute, with a minimum one-month training duration.
Police said the six candidates had not been able to produce a genuine one-month gardening training certificate.