From correspondents in India, 10:31 PM IST

The Allahabad High Court Thursday ordered an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged recruitment scam in the Uttar Pradesh police.

A division bench of the high court comprising Justices Anjani Kumar and Vijay Kumar Verma also quashed an order of the central government refusing a CBI inquiry in the recruitment muddle.

Soon after taking over as chief minister in May 2007, Mayawati had constituted a committee to look into allegations of massive corruption in the recruitment of police constables during the previous Mulayam Singh Yadav regime.

Based on the report of the one-man committee of senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Shailjakant Mishra, Mayawati had terminated the services of as many as 18,000 police constables.

Twenty-three IPS officials had also been suspended for their alleged involvement in the irregularities. They were, however, later reinstated after they gave a written apology.

The state government then wrote to the central government recommending a CBI investigation into the scam. The latter had turned down the request calling it the state's internal matter.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)