A long-standing case involving a senior Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer in Meghalaya has resurfaced amid the nationwide outrage over the NEET-UG paper leak. M. Balakrishna Reddy, a 1993-batch IFS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, was convicted in a criminal case linked to alleged malpractice during the 1996 Civil Services Examination.
Despite his conviction and ongoing disciplinary proceedings, Reddy has continued in service and has received multiple promotions, eventually rising to the rank of Principal Secretary in the Meghalaya government. According to official records and court documents, Reddy was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after allegedly carrying pre-written fake supplementary answer sheets into the UPSC Civil Services (Main) Examination in 1996. A CBI court in Indore convicted Reddy in 2011 under Sections 417, 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to two years’ rigorous imprisonment for forgery-related offences, along with a separate three-month sentence for cheating.
His appeal was dismissed by a sessions court in 2013, following which he briefly underwent imprisonment before securing bail from the Madhya Pradesh High Court, where his criminal revision petition remains pending. Reddy has denied ever cheating in the examination and claimed that the case stemmed from what he described as a prejudiced investigation by the investigating officer. The Meghalaya High Court observed in a 2022 judgment that it was extraordinary that a civil servant who was convicted for offences as grave as indulging in corrupt practice in the course of a Civil Services Examination continued to hold a senior position as Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has repeatedly asked the Meghalaya government to initiate appropriate disciplinary proceedings and review the promotions granted to Reddy. The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has also advised that the disciplinary proceedings should propose the highest penalty—dismissal from service—considering the gravity of his conviction. The matter remains entangled in multiple legal proceedings, with Reddy’s criminal revision against his conviction still pending before the Madhya Pradesh High Court, and the Supreme Court hearing issues relating to disciplinary authority and proceedings initiated against him.
The case continues to raise questions about accountability in the civil services. The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, has introduced stricter penalties for examination malpractice in the wake of recent examination controversies across the country.
