By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: A day after the CBI report about irregularities in the appointment of government teachers surfaced, former education minister Ampareen Lyngdoh, who was named in the report, refused to comment on the allegations against her.
“I have no comments to make,” Lyngdoh said when asked to comment on her role in the alleged manipulation of marks before appointing teachers.
Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma also refused to make any comments on the revelations of the CBI, saying that the matter is ‘sub judice’.
“Since the matter has already been taken up by the High Court it will be in the fitness of things to ensure that the legal procedure, on which we have so much of faith and confidence, is allowed to take its own course,” the Chief Minister said.
Dr Sangma also expressed surprise that the CBI probe report had been leaked to the media.
“It calls for the government to find out from which sources this has come out. I have spoken to the Chief Secretary we will have to find out how it is happening. I myself I am not privy to the report,” Dr Sangma said. On the other hand, Meghalaya Assembly Speaker Charles Pyngrope said that the three candidates he ‘had recommended’ were all who had passed the State Eligibility Tests.
“I have recommended only the names of successful candidates after they approached me and I cannot make any comments about the then education minister or others who have recommended the candidates,” Pyngrope said.
Other ministers, MLAs and MDCs who had recommended the names of candidates are yet to react on the issue.
Attempts were made to contact Education Minister Prof RC Laloo and senior officials of the Education department, but they did not return the calls.
Meanwhile, an official source, while reacting to the Chief Minister’s comments, said that the CBI report is no longer ‘sub judice’ since it was already examined and accepted by the court.
The court had even asked the government to incorporate the findings of the CBI if the government desires so.
On August 16 this year, the division bench of the Gauhati High Court (Shillong Bench) which comprised of justices Anima Hazarika and K Meruno, passed its judgment directing the Principal Secretary (Education) to constitute a High Level Scrutiny Committee of officials ‘without any stigma’ to scrutinize and review the records regarding the candidature of the selected and unselected candidates so as to ascertain the legality/basis of such selection or non-selection.
The Committee may also take beneficial assistance and guidance of the findings recorded legitimately by the CBI in its enquiry report which is under the authority of the State Government, the order said, adding that the government should not ‘spare’ any officer or authority, however high he may be, if any deliberate complicity is found interfering with the selection process.