Trinamool on thin ice as CBI probes party leaders 'recruitment scam'

As the investigation intensifies into the alleged irregularities in state-aided school recruitments, the ruling party Trinamool Congress is bracing for its political impact in West Bengal. The scam-related questioning of TMC state ministers—current and past—has also provided Opposition parties with fresh fodder to criticise the party.

On Friday, the Calcutta High Court directed the daughter of Paresh Adhikary, who is the current Minister of State for Education, to deposit with the court registrar the amount she earned as a teacher. She will not be allowed to enter the school, her place of work, till further instructions.

Adhikary’s daughter, Ankita, was recruited as a schoolteacher after her name was incorporated in the recruitment list, ahead of another candidate. She was asked to deposit the salary in two instalments.

The post to which Ankita was recommended and appointed will be treated as a vacant post. The post will not be filled up but will be earmarked for the petitioner who was to be appointed if the extreme illegality had not taken place, the court stated.

Meanwhile, Adhikary, himself, was questioned for the second consecutive day on Friday.

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Besides Adhikary, Partha Chatterjee, an important TMC leader and a minister in the state cabinet has also been questioned in relation to the recruitment scam. Chatterjee was the education minister when the alleged irregularities occurred.

This makes two senior ministers in the state cabinet to be questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under court directives.

As the investigation proceeds, West Bengal politics is also heating up. The recruitment scam has given Trinamool’s political opponents another opportunity, following the violent incidents that shocked the state earlier this year, more ammunition to question the state government.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, on Friday, took to the streets to highlight the irregularities in school staff appointments. Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury wrote to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday requesting her to take necessary steps to recruit deserving candidates.

“You are well aware of the fact that the candidates who were enrolled in the merit list of First SLST (State Level Selection Test) 2016 for the senior secondary and higher secondary categories have been continuing their sit-in movement for 215 days without interruption…,” Chowdhury stated, asking Banerjee to act with expediency.

Earlier this month, the Chief Minister had promised those sitting in protest that she was looking into the matter and would find a solution. Two days after that, the state education minister announced that 5,261 new posts had been created to appoint (deserving candidates).