Meghalaya case linked to convicted IFS officer resurfaces amid NEET protests
A years-old criminal case involving IFS officer M. Balakrishna Reddy, convicted over alleged Civil Services Examination malpractice, has come back into focus as
Nationwide anger over the NEET-UG paper leak has led to protests and political fallout across India. Amid this renewed public debate, attention has also turned to an older but unresolved case involving a senior Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer serving in Meghalaya.
The case concerns M. Balakrishna Reddy, an Assam-Meghalaya cadre officer of the 1993 batch. He was convicted in connection with alleged malpractice during the 1996 Civil Services Examination. Despite the conviction and disciplinary proceedings that have continued for years, he has remained in service and rose to a top post in the Meghalaya government.
Conviction details and exam action in 1996 case
According to court records described in the report, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Reddy after an allegation that he carried pre-written fake supplementary answer sheets into the UPSC Civil Services (Main) Examination in 1996. The UPSC cancelled his candidature and barred him from appearing in its examinations for ten years.
A CBI court in Indore convicted him in 2011 on offences linked to forgery, and he also received a separate sentence for cheating. His appeal was dismissed in 2013, and he briefly underwent imprisonment before obtaining bail from the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The report says his criminal revision petition remains pending there.
Meghalaya court observations and promotion dispute
The report also points to remarks by the Meghalaya High Court in a 2022 judgment. The court noted the unusual situation of a civil servant continuing in a senior role after conviction for serious offences connected to a civil services examination. It further observed that the officer was able to benefit from pending proceedings while avoiding disciplinary action.
Documents cited in the report state that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), the cadre-controlling authority for the IFS, repeatedly asked the Meghalaya government to initiate disciplinary action and review Reddy’s promotions. The report adds that the UPSC has advised proposing the maximum penalty, including dismissal from service, due to the gravity of the conviction. MoEFCC has also said promotion decisions should have followed the sealed cover procedure when criminal prosecution was pending.
Meghalaya’s government, however, is described as maintaining that promotions were granted in line with directions from the Meghalaya High Court in earlier service-related litigation. The report concludes by noting that the dispute remains tied to multiple legal processes, including Reddy’s pending revision before the Madhya Pradesh High Court and related proceedings before the Supreme Court on disciplinary authority.
