An inquiry committee headed by a former judge has said in its report that an advisory panel set up by the personal secretary of then education minister Partha Chatterjee had issued “fake” recommendation letters based on which appointments were made in government and aided schools, lawyers with access to the report said.
The committee headed by Justice Ranjit Bag, a former judge of Calcutta High Court, has said that at least 609 appointments were made to Group C and D posts in schools based on the “fake” recommendation letters, the lawyers said.
It has recommended prosecution against S.P. Sinha, who was chairman of the advisory committee of the School Service Commission (SSC) when the letters were issued, and five other former members, the lawyers said.
The report is also said to have recommended departmental proceedings against the five members of a recruitment committee of the education department — Subiresh Bhattacharya, Sharmila Mitra, Mahua Biswas, Subhojit Chatterjee and Sheikh Sirajuddin — on charges of violating norms.
Bhattacharya and Mitra are former chairpersons of the commission, while the others had served as chairpersons in regional offices of the SSC.
Lawyers familiar with SSC norms said no recruitment committee had a role in giving school jobs.
The probe committee, appointed by a high court division bench, has also recommended separate criminal cases against Sinha and the then president of the secondary education board, Kalyanmoy Ganguly.
After placing the report before the division bench headed by Justice Subrata Talukdar, Justice Bag resigned from the committee on health grounds.
The division bench of Justice Harish Tandon had set up the probe committee. But the bench later refused to hear appeals against any order related to the SSC case on “personal grounds”.
The appeals finally came up before the division bench of Justice Talukdar. So the probe panel placed its report before Justice Talukdar’s bench.
Former education minister Partha Chatterjee’s name has got involved in connection with the alleged anomalies in recruitments through the SSC. A Trinamul spokesperson had said only Chatterjee could throw light on the allegations.
The CBI is investigating allegations of illegal appointment of teachers for classes IX and X based on recommendations of the same advisory committee.