Calcutta HC directs CBI to question MoS School Education ‘over appointment of daughter’

A single bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay directed that the minister must appear before the CBI authorities by Tuesday evening for interrogation over the allegation. Justice Gangopadhyay also urged Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to remove Adhikari from the post of minister of state for school education.

The petitioner’s lawyer, Firdous Shamim, claimed that the candidate, Babita Sarkar, had secured 77 marks in the recruitment examination, while the minister’s daughter Ankita got only 61.

“Justice Gangopadhyay directed the minister of state for education to appear before the CBI by Tuesday evening. He also directed a CBI inquiry into irregularities in recruitment of teachers for classes 11 and 12. Our main submission was that petitioner Babita Sarkar, despite securing more marks than the minister’s daughter, did not get an appointment letter. The minister’s daughter, Ankita Adhikari, did not feature in the merit list. But all of a sudden her name was included in the merit list and she got the number one position. In the recruitment exam, she got 61 marks while the petitioner received 77 marks. Moreover, the minister’s daughter did not appear in the personality test (which takes place after the written exam),” the advocate said.

Speaking to reporters in north Bengal’s Jalpaiguri, Adhikari hinted that he is likely to move the division bench of Calcutta High Court on Wednesday. “I am yet to receive a copy of the order. I can’t comment till I go through it. I will respond to the allegations in the court,” Adhikari said. The minister and his daughter were later seen boarding a train to Kolkata.

Sources said that the CBI had called him thrice but found his phone switched off. Later, they sent him an email and an SMS informing him about the court order and directing him to appear before the agency.

It may be noted that Justice Gangopadhyay had on four earlier occasions ordered CBI inquiries in connection with alleged irregularities in appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff in state government and government-aided schools and had also directed former education minister Partha Chatterjee, who now holds the Industries and Parliamentary Affairs portfolio, to appear before the agency for questioning.

A division bench had stayed the orders following appeals.

A high court-appointed committee headed by a former HC judge had on May 13 submitted a report stating that 381 Group C post appointments in state government/aided schools were illegal and recommended criminal proceedings against five persons, who are former top officials of the state School Service Commission, and current president of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education.

Following Tuesday’s court order, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said law will take its course if there are irregularities in the recruitment process. “If there is something wrong then it should be described as wrong. We have nothing to say on the court order. But we will hope that the sanctity of the judiciary is maintained as it is the prerogative of the chief minister and her government to decide who will remain minister. But law will take its course if there is something wrong,” Ghosh said.

BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said the entire state government is knee-deep in corruption. “The minister was earlier with the Left Front. He joined the TMC on the condition that his daughter be given a job. This had come out in the media previously. The direction today is a vindication of the earlier reports. This goes to show that the entire state government is knee-deep in corruption,” Bhattacharya said.