Job scam: ED's order a daunting task says Bengal teachers' bodies

Kolkata: In the West Bengal school jobs scam, primary teachers' bodies said that it would be an extremely difficult task to dig out details about appointments made since 2011, which the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had demanded, PTI reported.

Earlier this week, ED had sought the chairman of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) a letter with the soft copies of the appointment-related details by Thursday.

"Details of the appointees as primary school teachers should be submitted in excel format within two days," the board said in a notice to the chairperson of each district primary school council on Tuesday.

In a notice chairperson of each district primary school council, WBBPE, said on Tuesday, "Details of the appointees as primary school teachers should be submitted in excel format within two days."

"The notice was prompted by the ED's directive to the board. We welcome a fresh relook at all the appointments made since 2011," Kinkar Adhikary, an office bearer of the 'Sikshak Sikshakarmi Sikshanuragi Oikyo Manch' (Joint Forum of Teaching & Non-Teaching Staff), told PTI.

Adhikary claimed that the entire exercise would be painstaking and herculean since "glaring anomalies were found in all recruitments since 2012 after the intervention of the high court," PTI quoted.

An officer bearer of another teacher's body stated that gathering the required data within the ED's deadline would be daunting.

General secretary of Bengal Primary Teachers Association, Ananda Handa, said, "We want every eligible and competent candidate, who did not get jobs in primary schools in all these years despite qualifying, get justice under due process of law."

Earlier, ED had arrested suspended Trinamool Congress leader and former state minister Partha Chatterjee and his close associate Arpita Mukherjee, alleging involvement in the multi-crore job scam.