Within a couple weeks the Maharashtra Council of Examinations (MSCE) debarred Maharashtra Minister Abdul Sattar’s two daughters and the name of another MLA Ramesh Bornare’s daughter surfaced in the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) scam, the Opposition Congress on Friday demanded the minister’s resignation and a thorough investigations into the scam.
Talking to media persons here, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Nana Patole said that with the new disclosures, the scope of the TET appeared to be widening and Sattar had no moral right to continue in the office.
“Abdul Sattar is facing serious allegations. He has no moral right to hold the ministerial post. Will the Shinde-Fadnavis government take action against Sattar and MLA Bornare or will they still be protected? ...A thorough investigation should be conducted into how many people benefited from the scam that broke during the Devendra Fadnavis Government and the culprits should be strictly punished,” Patole said.
Early this month, the names of Heena Kausar Abdul Sattar Shaikh and Uzma Nahid Abdul Sattar Shaikh, daughters Sattar, figured in the list of candidates who have been debarred by the MSCE for their alleged involvement in TET scam. Now it has emerged that the certificate of MLA Ramesh Bornare's daughter's is also fake.
In December 2021, it came to light that thousands of TET candidates got their marks inflated and several of them got fake certificates by paying money.
In the first week of August 2022, the MSCE released a list of over 7,800 TET candidates whose involvement was allegedly found in the scandal. Among those named in the list were Sattar’s two daughters. Consequently, their eligibility in 2019 TET was cancelled and the two have been barred from appearing for the exam again.
Rooting for stern measures to deal with the TET scam, Patole said: “We will not tolerate this injustice done to t teachers who gave TET exam with great effort and honesty.
In this recruitment process, political leaders, some officials and people with money have benefited and injustice has been done to hard-working, meritorious students. This is a big racket and the root cause should be investigated and the culprits should be punished”
Patole said that the previous Devendra Fadnavis government had awarded the TET work to a private company. “Like in the recruitment of teachers, there was also a scam in the recruitment of Talathi, Gramsevak and Agricultural Assistants. Running this process through a private company has led to a scam. Patole also said that this scam is similar to the 'Vyapam' scam in Madhya Pradesh and the Shinde Fadnavis government should take action against the culprits and bogus beneficiaries without defending anyone,” he said.
It may be recalled that in January 2022, Pune Cyber police have arrested IAS officer Sushil Khodwekar for alleged involvement in sensational state-wide Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) scam that unearthed last year.
Khodwekar’s arrest came on the heels of the arrest of (MSCE) Commissioner Tukaram Supe, former MSCE Commissioner Sukhdeo Dere, education consultant Abhijit Sawrikar and Director Pritesh Deshmukh, Director and former director of G. A. Software Technologies Pvt Ltd, a firm which had been awarded the contract for the TET and other government exams. The investigators had seized assets worth over Rs 7 crore allegedly amassed by the accused in an illegal manner.
With Khodwekar’s arrest, the total number of arrests made in the scam has gone up to 36. The arrested persons comprised both the government official, private persons and middlemen involved in the TET scam.
The investigations by the Pune police have revealed that those behind the scam had tampered the evaluation process to increase the marks of as many as 7,880 candidates in the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) held in 2018 and 2020.
The investigations have also revealed that the accused persons working with M/s GA Software Technologies Pvt Ltd had access to the TET website which they allegedly misused for malpractices
According to the police Khodwekar had links with accused Consultant to the Department of Education Abhijit Savrikar.
The police said amounts ranging from Rs 35,000 to Rs 2 lakh were allegedly taken from candidates to increase their TET marks.