In a massive, unprecedented “clean-up” operation, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has ordered the removal of chairmen of 20 Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) across the country. Twenty new officials have been posted as chairmen of these RRBs even as the ministry mulls over a slew of measures to initiate reforms in the functioning of these Boards.

Orders removing these chairmen, all senior administrative grade (SAG) officers, were issued late Thursday night. Notifying the 20 new officials to replace the incumbent chairmen, the Railway Ministry has not assigned any new posting for those relieved from their posts.

The RRBs are located in Ahmedabad, Ajmer, Allahabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Bilaspur, Chandigarh, Chennai, Gorakhpur, Guwahati, Jammu, Kolkata, Malda, Mumbai, Muzaffarpur, Patna, Ranchi, Secunderabad and Thiruvananthapuram.

Various RRBs across the country have been under a cloud of late over alleged irregularities in the conduct of examinations. In February this year, over 100 persons were arrested from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh for being part of a racket involved in leaking RRB examination papers. In a similar crackdown, the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force arrested 286 persons, including 274 candidates, for their alleged role in getting RRB question papers leaked. Exam paper leaks and allegations of various irregularities have forced postponement of RRB exams many times in the recent past.

October 2008 saw the RRBs making it to the headlines with activists of the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) unleashing attacks on candidates from Bihar who had travelled to Maharashtra to appear for an RRB exam there.

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