Kolkata: Various shocking details are still coming out on the 2016 SSC recruitment scam, which is being thoroughly investigated for several months. This special committee formed by former education minister Partha Chatterjee has been accused of making arrangements for corruption in the process of recruitment. Now that the Supreme Court has ruled over the termination of nearly 26,000 teachers jobs, the attention has turned to how this ‘high-powered’ committee worked and possibly inflated the number of teachers it claims to have hired.
How the Embattled Committee Emerged
The Bag Committee, formed by the Calcutta High Court to probe the teacher recruitment scam, was the first to point out this controversial committee in its report. The Bag Committee headed by former justice Ranjit Kumar Bag queue revealed `Partha Chatterjee’ § an education minister formed a committee beyond his power. The committee allegedly managed the recruitment process for SSC jobs and included Partha’s close associates. The ED and CBI started probing the case after the Bag Committee’s report and several members of the committee, including Partha Chatterjee, were arrested.
What the Committee Does and Why
An official notification regarding the constitution of the committee came out on November 1, 2019 and had a mandate to supervise the remaining recruitment process for the 2016 SSC exams. The committee’s formal role was to monitor the appointment process, with special attention to the central commission, the government notice said. The committee had no legal role in the process, and its formation was in violation of the law.
Who Was in the Committee?
The panel included many of those most connected with the Central Commission. Among them were Shantiprasad Sinha, ex-advisor of the Central Commission; Kalyanmoy Gangopadhyay, ex-chairman of the Madhyamik Education Board; and Subhiresh Bhattacharya, ex-chairman of the Central Commission, and others.
The service offered allegedly manipulates the recruitment process
CBI and legal experts also consider this team to be the high-level committee which facilitated the corruption in the recruitment process. Partha Chatterjee was said to have insisted on the committee way of recruitment, thus making them pivotal in the recruitment decisions. Shantiprasad Sinha was the person to whom last-minute recruitment powers were given on Bhattacharya’s suggestion, and is said to have become the key figure in the process.
Manipulating Data: The Committee Generates More Posts
The probe had found that the ‘high-powered’ committee was making additional job positions despite lesser requisite vacancies. It alleged that the committee approved additional posts for teaching, including 1,071 for Classes 9 and 10 (secondary), 199 for Classes 11 and 12 (higher secondary) and 416 for Group C and 669 for Group D posts. This Committee is believed to have operated this parallel recruitment system with Shantiprasad as its central figure.
The investigation also revealed that Shantiprasad was responsible for arranging digital copies of OMR sheets from Data Scan Tech, utilising the details of job applicants, thereby providing additional evidence against them in the manipulation. The committee’s oversight and monitoring of this specific type of corruption suggests that it met the standards set by Partha Chatterjee himself.
These findings led to the arrest of Partha Chatterjee, Shantiprasad Sinha and other committee members. The police assert that the body’s sole purpose was to oversee corruption and facilitate ongoing illegal recruitment. The revelation of these facts now intensifies suspicions about the scale of the SSC recruitment scam.
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