A view of the Calcutta High Court. file | Photo credit: The Hindu
The Calcutta High Court has directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file a report before it within seven days as to why the confidential work of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education is related to? Recruitment of Teachers was outsourced to a private company.
Hearing a petition regarding alleged irregularities in the appointment of primary teachers in state government-sponsored and aided schools, the court also directed the agency to find out the method of selection of the company.
Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay on February 2 directed the CBI to file a report by February 10 as to why the board’s confidential work was outsourced to M/s. S Basu Roy And Company
The court also directed the CBI to submit a report in a sealed cover whether any tender was floated by the board before selecting the private company for such work.
The court directed that the CBI should conduct a thorough inquiry for this purpose. Manik Bhattacharya, former chairman of the state’s Board of Primary Education. “The CBI should come out with a clear report regarding the findings of the above questions,” the justice directed.
The court also directed Ratna Chakraborty Bagchi, former secretary of the board, to file an affidavit clearly stating the reasons why the additional panel for the recruitment of primary teachers was not published.
Justice Gangopadhyay noted that Ratna Chakraborty Bagchi has stated before the court that the documents which were sent by M/s. S. Basu Roy & Co. as an additional panel to the Board was not in conformity with the norms under which the selection process was initiated.
The court had in January removed an officer from the CBI’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the primary recruitment scam for failing to proceed properly.
Justice Gangopadhyay, while constituting the SIT in June last year, had directed that the probe into alleged irregularities in primary school teacher recruitment be monitored by the court.