Calcutta HC removes minister’s daughter from post
Before the Calcutta high court order, allegations surfaced that Ankita Adhikary, the daughter of West Bengal’s junior education minister Paresh Adhikary, was selected as a government school teacher, bypassing candidates who secured higher marks than her in the State Level Selection Test.
The Calcutta high court on Friday ordered Ankita Adhikary, the daughter of West Bengal’s junior education minister Paresh Adhikary, to return the salary which she has received as a school teacher since 2018 and also barred her from entering the school premises where she was working.
“Ankita Adhikary shall not be treated as a teacher recommended by the School Service Commission and appointed by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education until further order passed by this court,” said the order. “The concerned District Inspector of Schools is directed not to pay any salary to said Ms. Ankita Adhikary until further order by this court,” the order added.
Meanwhile officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation quizzed Paresh Adhikary for the second time in two days in connection with his daughter’s recruitment. On Wednesday he was questioned for nearly three hours. His daughter didn’t show up for questioning.
Paresh Adhikary, who was earlier with the All India Forward Bloc, joined the ruling Trinamool Congress in 2018. Allegations surfaced that Ankita Adhikary was selected as a government school teacher, bypassing candidates who secured higher marks than her in the State Level Selection Test.
“The single bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay said that Ankita Adhikary shall not be allowed to be treated as a government-appointed teacher until further orders. The court also directed her to deposit the entire salary which she has received since November 2018 to the registrar general of the Calcutta high court in two installments,” said Firdous Samim, counsel of the petitioner.
The federal agency has already filed a FIR against the minister, his daughter and other “unknown public servants” under sections 420 (cheating and dishonesty) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) besides sections under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
“lt is further alleged that some powerful invisible hands definitely were working to manipulate the merit list for appointment, otherwise Ankita Adhikary, daughter of Paresh Chandra Adhikary could not have been included in the wait list at serial number 1. It is further alleged that there is a scam in appointments to the posts of said assistant teachers,” said the FIR.
Petitioner Babita Sarkar told the Calcutta high court that while she scored 77 in the recruitment exam held in 2016, Ankita scored 61 and didn’t ever appear for the personality test. Despite that Ankita was given rank one and recruited.
“Truth and morality has triumphed. When I first started the fight, I didn’t know that Ankita Adhikary was a minister’s daughter. However, when I came to know that she was Paresh Adhikary’s daughter I didn’t give up. I gathered more strength as I knew that I was right and she was wrong. The judge is like a God to me. I hope that the government implements the court’s order soon and I get the job,” said Babita Sarkar.
It was further held that the post in which Adhikari had been appointed will now be treated as vacant and shall be earmarked for Sarkar who was supposed to be appointed as an assistant teacher had the illegality not taken place.
“Ankita was recruited through the SSC. But later we came to know through media that her recruitment was done using unfair means. We will abide by the court order,” said Indira Roy Basunia, headmistress of Indira Uccha Balika Vidyalaya, where Ankita used to teach political science for students of classes XI and XII.
The opposition slammed the TMC . “This is just the tip of the iceberg. Such cases can be found in almost every TMC family because their father, mother or brother is a TMC leader,” said Adhir Chowdhury, leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha.
The TMC said that the party won’t support or try to hide someone’s wrongdoings.
“It won’t be right to comment on a court order. The TMC won’t support if anyone has done anything wrong,” said Kunal Ghosh, TMC spokesperson.
Meanwhile Partha Chatterjee, former state education minister has been called by the CBI for a second round of questioning in connection with illegalities in recruitment of teachers.
On Friday Chatterjee’s counsels moved the Calcutta high court’s division bench against the single bench order which said that CBI has the liberty to take him into custody. The court didn’t give the incumbent minister and TMC’s state secretary general any protection against arrest. Chatterjee’s lawyers later moved the Supreme Court.
During the day, a CBI team went to the SSC office and sealed the server and data bank to prevent any tampering of evidence.