SSC-qualified candidates block traffic movement on a road in protest against the alleged teacher recruitment scam, in Kolkata on November 9, 2022. file | Photo Credit: PTI
The names of two Trinamool Congress councilors and a son of a panchayat pradhan have figured in the list of 952 candidates whose marks in the entrance examination were rigged to get jobs as teachers in government schools. On Tuesday, posters were put up against councilor Dipanita Deb Singh of Ward No. 24 of the municipality in Balurghat municipality of the state. The posters alleged that the Trinamool councilor obtained a job as a biology teacher in a government school using unfair means. His name was at serial number 417 in a list of 952 candidates whose OMR (optical mark reader) sheets were manipulated to attempt to get a job as a biology teacher in a government school.
The Calcutta High Court had last week asked the West Bengal School Service Commission to publish the names of candidates whose OMR sheets were tampered with. A day earlier, the name of another corporator of the state’s ruling party had appeared in the list of those whose OMR sheets were allegedly forged.
Trinamool Congress corporator Kuheli Ghosh, who represents ward number 18 of Rajpur-Sonarpur municipality in South 24 Parganas district, also figured in the list of 952 names. Ms. Ghosh is currently working as a Secondary History teacher in a government school in South 24 Parganas district. Another teacher whose name is stirring up controversy is Nazimullah, the son of Mohammad Isha Sardar, an elected official of the Trinamool Congress-run panchayat committee in Barasat in North 24 Parganas district.
Embarrassing for Trinamool Congress
Interestingly, the teachers whose names figure in the list of 952 candidates have disappeared from the schools since the list was made public. Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the Calcutta High Court had directed the CBI to probe allegations of corruption in the recruitment of teachers and non-teaching staff. The CBI found that OMR sheets of 952 candidates were manipulated to give higher marks to the candidates in the recruitment process.
The development has embarrassed the Trinamool Congress leadership as it comes at a time when it is already feeling the heat of the recruitment scam. Former education minister Partha Chatterjee and several officials of the state education department are behind bars for their alleged involvement in the scam.
Senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, representing the petitioners who have alleged corruption in the recruitment process before the high court, said the developments indicate a “well-planned scam” which could not have been in the knowledge of higher officials in the government, including the chief minister. . , Mr. Bhattacharya, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP representing the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said that attempts will be made to sabotage the probe and the only way out is to continue with the High Court.
State BJP president Suknata Majumdar said that in the previous regime the list of candidates who got jobs was in the public domain and in the Trinamool government, the list in the public domain included people who got jobs using unfair means.