Bengal govt files police complaint naming Partha Chatterjee in GTA teacher recruitment case

Kolkata: Former West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, who is in judicial custody in connection with the multi-crore cash-for-school jobs case in the state, seems to be headed for further trouble.

Now, the Education Department has registered a complaint related to the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teachers in schools under the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), the civic authority for the hills of Darjeeling, Kurseong, and Kalimpong in North Bengal.

Sources said the complaint was filed with the Bidhannagar (North) police station on Wednesday based on which the police registered an FIR in the matter on Thursday.

It is learnt that eight names have been mentioned in the FIR, including that of former Trinamool leader Chatterjee.

Two other prominent names included in the FIR are that of Trinamool student wing leader Trinankur Bhattacharya and Binay Tamang, the former chief executive of GTA who is presently a state General Secretary of the Congress.

Recently, the Calcutta High Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is already conducting a probe into the school jobs cases in West Bengal, to investigate the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teachers in the GTA-controlled schools.

The CBI is supposed to submit a report to the high court by April 25. The GTA authorities are also supposed to submit a report in the matter by the same date.

The Gorkha Unemployed Primary Teachers’ Welfare Association was the first to raise allegations of irregularities in the teacher recruitment process at the GTA-controlled schools.

The association also approached the high court demanding a thorough probe into the matter.