KOLKATA: Calcutta High Court ordered fresh interrogation of West Bengal School Service Commission's former adviser Santi Prasad Sinha after the court found him to have made "deliberate false statements" in court regarding alleged illegal appointments in state-aided schools.
The court also directed CBI to start a fresh case into the appointments of assistant teachers to Classes IX and X in state-run schools. Petitioner Anindita Bera, in her supplementary affidavit on Thursday, cited 27 instances of how illegal appointments were made to teaching posts for these classes.
Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay was "extremely surprised" over the way the former adviser had misled the court during his earlier submission. "What surprises me is the deliberate false statement made by S P Sinha before this court, which has been exposed from the annexure of the supplementary affidavit in the matter," the court observed.
Sinha had submitted to court on earlier occasions that no meeting of the state-appointed five-member committee was held before the appointments were made.
"In the supplementary affidavit I found that there is a startling revelation. A notice for a second meeting of the committee constituted by the school education department was issued on 1.11.2019. The notice shows, by which I am extremely and extremely surprised, that there were at least two or more than two meetings of the said committee," the court observed.
The court directed the CBI regional director to probe the matter and interrogate Sinha and other committee members again in view of the "startling revelation". It asked CBI to report to court after two weeks.
