Bengal minister quizzed after HC upholds order for CBI probe into illegal school appointments

Kolkata: West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee was on Wednesday evening quizzed for over three hours by the CBI in connection with alleged irregularities in government school appointments, which has snowballed into a major controversy, with Leader of Opposition in Assembly Suvendu Adhikari accusing him of "masterminding the scam".

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Chatterjee appeared before CBI sleuths in the wake of an order by Calcutta High Court, which termed as "public scam" the irregularities made in the recruitment process. A division bench of the court, during the day, upheld a single bench order for CBI inquiry into illegal appointments made in government-run and -aided schools by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education on the recommendations of the School Service Commission (SSC).

The bench, chaired by Justice Subrata Talukdar, maintained that the single bench order requires no intervention. In its 111-page judgement, the division bench accepted recommendations of Justice (retd) R K Bag committee, instituted by the court, calling for prosecution of the then senior officials connected to the scam.

The Bag committee found irregularities in appointments to Group-D and Group-C posts. Shortly after the division bench gave its verdict, the single bench of Justice Gangopadhyay directed Chatterjee to appear before the CBI in connection with the appointment scam.

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Chatterjee's lawyer immediately moved an urgent oral plea before another division bench, led by Justice Harish Tandon, seeking a stay on Justice Gangopadhyay's order, but to no avail. The bench, also comprising Justice Rabindranath Samanta, refused to hear the plea saying that the appeal has not been filed in the registry of the court, and hence cannot be heard as per the rules of the high court.

Chatterjee, now the state industry, commerce and parliamentary affairs minister, held the education portfolio when the scam was apparently pulled off. Justice Gangopadhyay, in his order, observed that he expects Chatterjee to step down as minister in the interest of justice.

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He also directed all five members of a committee -- constituted by the West Bengal School Education Department in November, 2019 for monitoring pending recruitments of teaching and non-teaching staff in government-run and -aided schools -- to appear before the CBI.

The single bench directed the CBI to continue its investigation into the irregularities in accordance with the orders passed by it earlier. An official of the CBI said the minister was separately grilled by the investigating officer of the case as well as another team of agency sleuths. The five members were questioned in a separate room, the CBI official stated, adding that the two versions would be tallied later.

Meanwhile, amid the row over alleged appointment irregularities Siddhartha Majumdar, the chairman of West Bengal Central School Service Commission (WBCSSC), tendered his resignation from the post, which was accepted by Education Secretary Manish Jain.

The school education department has instituted Samagra Siksha Mission state project director Subhra Chakrabarti to the top post in the commission. Majumdar, a professor of commerce department in City College, had taken over charge from Suvankar Sarkar only in January, 2021. He did not cite any reason for quitting.

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Sarkar had stepped down from the post after being indicted by the high court over alleged irregularities in recruitment to SSC posts. The high court, in another case related to appointment of teachers for Classes 11 and 12, had on Tuesday directed West Bengal Minister of State for Education Paresh Chandra Adhikari to appear before the CBI here over alleged appointment of his daughter in a state government-aided school in Cooch Behar.

He, however, skipped the appearance. Taking umbrage at the alleged appointment scam, the governor, who shares an acrimonious relation with the Mamata Banerjee government since he took over the gubernatorial post in July 2019, said leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari had informed him that recruitment of teachers in schools has been "tainted and sullied by gross nepotism".

"LOP @SuvenduWB asserted that recruitment of teachers has been tainted and sullied by gross nepotism, favouritism and corruption with massive involvement of Ministers #WB. This unprecedented scam has opened 'can of worms' and needs thorough probe," he tweeted.

The leader of opposition accused Chatterjee, who is also the secretary general of the ruling Trinamool Congress, of abetting and aiding corruption, calling him the "mastermind of the SSC recruitment scam". Hitting back, TMC state spokesperson Kunal Ghosh sought to know why the Nandigram MLA, “whose name figured in several graft cases”, was still roaming free. "Law will take its own course; we have faith in judiciary. I would, however, want to know from the CBI why Suvendu Adhikari, tainted in several graft cases, has not been arrested yet?" Ghosh added.