Bengal school job case: ED summons Trinamool youth leader for interrogation

Kolkata, May 19 The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday issued summons to a Trinamool Congress leader in West Bengal for questioning in connection with the multi-crore cash-for-school job case.

Sources aware of the development said the person summoned is Ambarish Sarkar, the Youth Trinamool Congress President of South Dinajpur district.

He was issued the summons for interrogation on Monday and asked to come to the ED's office at the Central Government Office (CGO) complex at Salt Lake at the earliest.

Sources said that Sarkar was summoned after the investigating officials received specific information about his involvement in irregular appointments of some non-teaching staff, both in Group-C and Group-D categories.

This is the first time that Sarkar was summoned by the ED in connection with the school-job case. The investigating officials will record and corroborate his statements with those given by others questioned by the ED, who named Sarkar as involved in the matter.

Sources said that Sarkar’s name in the matter first surfaced last year for the first time when a case was filed at Gangarampur sub-divisional court in South Dinajpur by an individual accusing Sarkar of accepting cash on the promise of jobs in the Group-D category non-teaching staff.

Besides being the Youth Trinamool Congress President in South Dinajpur, Sarkar is also Vice-President of the Zilla Parishad in the district. When the case was filed against him last year, he denied the allegations and said that the entire matter was a conspiracy against him.

The development surfaced at a time when the "untainted" or "genuine" teachers losing their jobs following a Supreme Court order last month, are conducting a sit-in demonstration in front of Bikash Bhavan, the West Bengal Education Department headquarters.

On April 3, a Supreme Court bench of then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar had upheld the order of the Calcutta High Court’s division bench of Justice Debangshu Basak and Justice Shabbar Rashidi cancelling 25,753 school jobs.

The apex court also accepted the observation of the High Court that the entire panel of candidates had to be cancelled because of the failure of the state government and the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) to segregate the "untainted" candidates from the "tainted" ones.

The state government and the WBSSC have already filed review petitions at the apex court on this issue.

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