Education scam
SHILLONG: Contrary to the stand of the Education Department that it was not aware of the submission of any report of the High Level Scrutiny Committee on the education scam, Chief Secretary WMS Pariat told reporters on Thursday that the Government ‘is examining the report’ and action will follow soon.
“The report was submitted to the Principal Secretary, Education, and it is with the Government, but the contents of the report cannot be revealed,” the Chief Secretary said.
According to the Chief Secretary, the recommendations made by the High Level Scrutiny Committee are being processed and subsequently action would be taken.
It was the CBI report on the irregularities in appointment of government teachers which resulted in the direction of the Meghalaya High Court to form the High Level Scrutiny Committee to examine the tampering of mark sheets of eligible candidates for appointment as teachers.
Since the Government appointed many candidates who were not eligible, the Court and the High Level Committee wanted the Government to correct the anomalies.
According to sources, the report of the High Level Scrutiny Committee had recommended for appointing the eligible candidates who were denied justice due to the tampering of their mark sheets.
The CBI had, in its report, indicted then Education Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh and some education officials and made ‘adverse remarks’ about them.
The Chief Secretary also said that no deadline was fixed by the Court to submit the action taken report on the part of the Government.
The admission of the Chief Secretary that the report of the High Level Committee was submitted to the Principal Secretary, Education, and that it is available with the Government, will put the public information officer BS Sohliya in trouble.
In his reply to a question under RTI sought by Agnes Kharshiing, Sohliya had said that the report was not available with the Education Department.
He had also added that there was no record in the Education Department to indicate that the report was submitted to the Government.
Sohliya had, further, said that the Department was not aware of any Government official receiving the report.
“We are not aware who is having the report of the screening committee,” Sohliya had said, adding that there was no department file relating to the subject.
As per the RTI Act, a fine can be imposed on any Government official, who is the public information officer, for providing false information.
An official dealing with RTI matters said that the RTI applicant can approach the Chief Information Commissioner seeking action against the Public Information Officer for providing false information.