After the Central Bureau of Investigation it is the turn of the Enforcement Directorate to take a look into the high-profile Bengal School Services Commission recruitment scam that has already sucked into its vortex two TMC ministers and a bevy of retired bureaucrats, Vice Chancellors etal.
After perusing the Justice RK Bag Commission report and conducting a preliminary inquiry the ED is known to have registered a case and sought all the details including the copy of the FIR from the CBI which is currently investigating the case following a Calcutta High Court order.
The ED was drawn into the case following reports that hundreds of crores were invested in flats, international schools and other real estates including separate kennels for a minister’s pets both within and outside Bengal. According to sources a whopping Rs 15,000 crore or more might have changed hands in the job-for-money scam.
Justice Bag Committee created by the High Court had earlier submitted a damaging 1,500 page report in which it not only showed how fake candidates were given appointments by-passing the merit-listed aspirants at various levels of the recruitment — including Groups C, D, secondary and higher secondary teachers — but it declared appointment of a designated 5-member screening committee created by then Education Minister Partho Chatterjee as totally illegal.
The judicial Panel also recommended criminal proceedings against those guilty leading both the single and the division bench of the High Court to order CBI investigation into the recruitment scam. Subsequently the Court also ordered the dismissal of Ankita Adhikari the daughter of Minister of State for Education Paresh Adhikari who allegedly topped the merit list of aspiring teachers for Class XI-XII despite securing lesser numbers from her fellow aspirants.
Referring to the new development, senior Trinamool Congress parliamentarian Saugato Roy said that ED’s entry into the case was a sheer example of vindictive politics of the Centre. “I do not know whether the High Court order cannot be misinterpreted as the Court had ordered the CBI to probe the matter whereas the ED has not entered the scene … this indicates vindictive politics of the Centre,” he said.
Meanwhile, Congress Lok Sabha Leader Adhir Chwodhury hit out at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for harbouring a whole galaxy of corrupt ministers.