The High Court of Calcutta on Wednesday, December 14, 2022, in the probe on the scam of Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets to accommodate ineligible candidates illegally in the appointment list for Class IX and X teachers in state-run schools, ordered the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to join the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). A bench consisting of a single judge, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay asked the ED to join the investigation process effectively immediately and conduct a thorough investigation on the financial angle involved in the scam, stated an IANS report.
On Wednesday, December 14, Justice Gangopadhyay asked the counsel for the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) how many of the 183 candidates who were "wrongly recommended" are actually working as instructors in several state-run institutions. The commission's counsel responded that while 80 of these applicants have already started working, the remaining ones have not done so despite obtaining appointment letters.
Justice Gangopadhyay ordered the commission to fill those positions right away with suitable candidates chosen on the basis of merit. It has been heard that the ED would look into the financial aspect and try to uncover information about the money paid by such incorrectly-recommended individuals in order to illegally obtain those jobs. It will also include information about who among these candidates made payments and how much, as well as information about the recipients and beneficiaries of such payments.
Senior advocate and CPI-M Rajya Sabha member, Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya said this decision is welcome on part of the Calcutta High Court. "Undoubtedly wrongly recommended candidates secured jobs by paying huge amounts of money. It is also to be seen whether there is any hawala angle in the scam. The ED, being an agency expert probing such crimes relating to financial embezzlement, is the right agency to probe the scam," he said, as reported by IANS.
