West Bengal govt distances itself on recovery of OMR sheets from TMC leader's residence by ED

Kolkata: The West Bengal government has distanced itself from the allegations that copies of optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets for teachers' recruitment examinations were recovered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at youth Trinamool Congress leader Kuntal Ghosh's residence, who has been arrested by the central agency in connection with the teacher's recruitment scam in the state.

"The West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) conducted the written tests. One copy of the OMR sheet remains with the commission, while the other copy remains with the candidate concerned. If the candidate concerned leaves that copy at the residence of an agent, how can it be the responsibility of the commission or the state government?," asked state Education Minister Bratya Basu in an interaction with media personnel on Friday evening.

"The responsibility of being the target of agents lies with the candidate concerned. My advice is that everyone should stay away from the agents. Have faith in merit. Have faith in the commission," added Basu.

Basu didn't say anything about the process of termination of service of non-teaching staff in the Group D category through notifications by West Bengal Staff Service Commission (WBSSC) as submitted in front of Calcutta High Court.

"It is up to the court to decide whether there had been corruption and irregularities. The state government has no comment to make in the matter. We will have to work as per the directives of the court. The commission will have to be cautious," Basu told reporters.

Basu further said it will not be possible to fill up the vacancies from the waiting panels since as per the observation of the court, there are irregularities in them as well.

Inputs from IANS