The chairman of the school service commission (SSC) who had resigned 10 days ago is still attending office.
His successor from Bikash Bhavan, the headquarters of the state education department, less than a kilometre from the commission's office in Salt Lake, is yet take over charge.
The school education department had announced on May 18 that Subhra Chakrabarti, IAS, will hold the charge of the chairman at the SSC in addition to his present assignments IAS, presently posted as the state project director, Samagra Shiksha Mission, as the state project director, Samagra Shiksha Mission.
Siddhartha Majumdar, who had resigned a day after attending a virtual hearing of the high court in connection with alleged irregularities in the appointment of the daughter of minister of state for education Paresh Chandra Adhikary as a teacher in a government-aided school, is now busy with making arrangements so that interviews for the appointment of teachers at the upper primary level can be held on time, said sources.
Recruitment at the secondary and higher secondary level, which too comes under the domain of the commission, is being probed by the CBI following allegations of irregularities in the appointments.
An official of the commission said that the outgoing chairman is using his extended period in office so that the 1,098 upper primary teaching aspirants can upload documents like copies of the training certificate and academic qualifications within a deadline that the commission is yet to specify.
When contacted, Majumdar, who is a teacher of economics at the City College, said: “I am continuing at the SSC office because I have yet to handover the charge to my successor.”
Sources in the commission said the education department had asked him to continue for some time.A text message to education minister Bratya Basu seeking to know how long Majumdar has to continue at the commission, went unanswered.
Majudmar who had joined the commission in January is attending the SSC office where four data rooms are being guarded by the armed CRPF personnel following order of the Calcutta High Court.
The CRPF will remain deployed till June 10 to protect the documents that have come under the scanner following the probe.
The CBI on Monday snapped the Internet connection to the server room to prevent the possibility of any online tampering of the data related to the allegedly illegal recruitments.
An official of the commission said, as they could not access the data rooms, they were not able to use the website of the commission. “We have plans to create a new web page at the earliest with a new URL address. In the new web page the commission has to upload the notification on uploading of documents and holding the interview,” he said.
The CBI team went to the SSC office on Friday and spoke to Majumdar. They also went around the office and went through the records pertaining to group C and D recruitment.