The West Bengal School Recruitment scam is still witnessing legal proceedings at the Calcutta High Court. On Friday, June 24, the court directed that one of the petitioners be appointed to the post vacated by West Bengal Education Minister Paresh Adhikari's daughter Ankita Adhikari. The petitioner had alleged to be deprived of employment as a teacher and Ankita Adhikari was found to have illegally secured the job.
The court had earlier ordered Ankita's dismissal from the job in the higher secondary section of the state government's Indira High School in Cooch Behar district, where she had been teaching. It had also directed her to deposit the salary drawn during the period of her employment to the registry of the high court. And now in the latest hearing, the court ordered the salary amount returned by Ankita to be handed over to petitioner Babita Sarkar.
The case was being heard by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay who directed that Babita Sarkar be given the job by June 30 and said that she could join her duty by July 10. Babita had appealed to the court, claiming that she, despite having been in the panel of 20 selected candidates, had her name struck off to accommodate Ankita, whose name then appeared at the top of the panel and who was given an appointment at Indira Girls High School, as per the PTI report.
A CBI investigation into alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided schools had been ordered by the Calcutta HC after several people approached the court on the matter. It had been alleged by these petitioners that the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) had made the teachers' appointments on recommendations from the state's School Service Commission (SSC).
The CBI probe had revealed that Ankita had been illegally appointed indeed, by the WBBSE on SSC's recommendation. The SSC also admitted before the court later that Ankita's name did not find a place on the list after the personality test of candidates was conducted. Ankita's father, the Education Minister, had earlier appeared before the CBI on an order of the court in connection with the appointment of her daughter as a teacher, as per the PTI report.
