Furthering the controversy over the recent suspension of Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) secretary Gerry Arathoon, the chairman of the council Father Jose Aikara was on Thursday sacked from the council after the Executive Committee called for an emergency meeting. According to Arathoon, the chairman was “victimising” him all along.
“Even after I confessed to the technical glitches involved in the alleged recommendation of my wife’s textbooks in schools and all the necessary enquiries were done, the chairman didn’t pull back and instead carried out needless enquiries on the council’s expense. Based on this, the Executive Committee decided to remove him from his post,” said Arathoon.
Though Aikara said that his removal was “illegal”, Arathoon maintained that the committee took the decision to remove the chairman based on the way he behaved in a “legal matter”.
The council has also appointed a new chairperson because of the proximity of the ICSE and ISC board exams.
Few weeks back, Arathoon was suspended from the council after schools had complained that they were being pressurized to subscribe to books written by his wife. As per rules, members of the council or their families cannot engage in any trade or business or write books without the permission of the committee. However, though Arathoon had said that the rule was “faulty and unjust” he had agreed to his fault and even given in an apology. He also offered to take post-facto permission, something that he said the committee has the powers to allow. After suspension Arathoon was reinstated in October. However since the chairperson kept on conducting enquiries in the issue and spending so much money, the committee was unhappy.
Arathoon also alleged that it would be wrong to say that he had hidden the fact that his wife was writing guidebooks that can be used by ICSE students. According to him Aikara himself released the book which was written by his wife in 2013.
Arathoon also denied forcing schools to subscribe to the books.