Among the 7,880 candidates the state education department disqualified last week and barred them from reappearing for the teacher eligibility test (TET) for alleged malpractices, four are children of former Maharashtra minister Abdul Sattar.
These new revelations may dash Sattar’s ministerial aspirations ahead of the Eknath Shinde-led cabinet’s expansion, which is expected to take place on Tuesday.
A notification issued by Maharashtra State Council of Examinations (MSCE) on August 3 said that Sattar’s three daughters and son had allegedly procured fake certificates showing they had cleared the exam held on January 19, 2020. The four are Huma Farheen Abdul Sattar Shaikh, Heena Kausar Abdul Sattar Shaikh, Uzma Nahid Abdul Sattar Shaikh, and Mohammad Aamir Abdul Sattar.
Sattar, a minister of state in the erstwhile Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government, however, denied any wrongdoing and claimed that he would seek an inquiry to find out how the names of his children appeared in the list of disqualified candidates.
“This is an attempt to defame me. A probe should be ordered and if anyone from my family is found guilty, take action against them. If they are innocent, there should be action against those involved in defaming me,” he told HT.
{{/usCountry}}“This is an attempt to defame me. A probe should be ordered and if anyone from my family is found guilty, take action against them. If they are innocent, there should be action against those involved in defaming me,” he told HT.
{{/usCountry}}The rebel Shiv Sena leader runs National Education Society in Aurangabad district’s Sillod, which offers various courses, including those in school education. Two of his daughters currently teach at the institute but are not on the government-approved pay scale.
The former minister said Heena and Uzma had appeared for the MAHATET-2019 exam conducted on January 19, 2020, but failed to clear it. “My two daughters, who have been working in our institution since 2017, took the test but could not succeed. I have their certificates to show they were ineligible.”
Sattar further said he was not aware if his daughter Huma had ever written the exam, while his son Aamir, an LLB student, had not taken any such test in the past. “My son recently appeared for his final-year LLB exam. The third daughter [Huma] is married and I have not kept a record if she has ever taken the exam.”
An investigation by Pune police earlier this year had revealed that 7,880 candidates were allegedly involved in rigging. Of them, 7,500 allegedly increased their marks, in exchange for money, to clear the exam, while 293 candidates procured fake certificates. Another 87 candidates were found to have got in touch with the accused, who were later arrested, for allegedly tampering with the results.
MSCE chairman Sharad Gosavi said that police had got to know from the arrested accused the names of candidates to whom they had issued bogus certificates. “Police sent us a list and we disqualified them last week.”
The cyber cell of Pune police had arrested more than 15 people, including Tukaram Supe, commissioner (now suspended) of MSCE, and Pritesh Deshmukh, director of G A Software, the firm entrusted with the task for conducting the test.
A police officer said senior officials with the help of the software firm issued fake certificates to candidates in exchange for money and made sure their records reached all the regional offices of the education department.
“This was done to ensure no discrepancy was found when many of these aspirants would seek jobs as teachers and submit their bogus certificates,” the officer, who did not want to be named, said.
Pune police have started inquiring about candidates disqualified by MSCE.
TET has been made mandatory for teachers’ appointments since 2013 when Maharashtra implemented the Right to Education Act.