‘CBI probe based on writ petitions, not FIRs’
SHILLONG: The State Government has misled the Supreme Court by filing an interlocutory application that said the case filed in the High Court of Meghalaya for a CBI probe into the criminal aspect of the education scam and the one that has been pending before the Apex Court are identical.
The State Government through Commissioner and Secretary (Home), EP Kharbhih, on Friday filed an affidavit in the High Court mentioning about the interlocutory application filed before the Supreme Court related to the case.
The interlocutory application filed by Ambrose Marak, Director of School Education and Literacy, states that it was after the FIR was filed in the education scam that the CBI had stepped in to probe the matter. However, records say it was as per the direction of the erstwhile Shillong Bench of the Gauhati High Court after hearing writ petitions of the affected candidates that the CBI inquiry was ordered.
The CBI had never investigated the FIRs filed by the concerned parties but the probe report was based on the direction of the then single Judge of erstwhile Shillong Bench of the High Court in response to the petitions filed by the aggrieved parties.
In 2010, an FIR was filed before the SP of East Khasi Hills for the alleged manipulation of marks pertaining to the recruitment of assistant teachers in lower primary school, which was not registered in time in spite of providing information to the Chief Secretary and the Meghalaya DGP.
Again on July 13, 2011, another FIR was filed by Agnes Kharshiing but this too was not registered and on July 18 of the same year, an affected teacher filed an FIR with the Laitumkhrah police station that was registered as Laitumkhrah PS case No 62(7) 2011. But police investigation was tardy as only initial statements were recorded by the then investigation officer who was later replaced by another.
It was in mid-2010 that some of the candidates who were not selected for the post of assistant teachers sought the intervention of the High Court alleging manipulation of marks in the score sheets. The then single Judge passed an order directing the CBI to conduct the inquiry.
As per the CBI report submitted to the High Court, there was alleged involvement of high profile politicians and officials.
After getting a copy of the CBI report, Kharshiing had filed another FIR in 2012, which, however, was not acted upon prompting the complainant to approach the Court of CJM, Shillong, which passed an order for registration of the case.
Police also made a prayer to the CJM Court to club the FIR of the petitioner with the Laitumkhrah PS case No 62(7) 2011, as the subject matter of the case was the same.
Hence, it was allowed and more sections were added.
When contacted , the lawyer of the petitioner, Advocate N Syngkon, said the petition filed in the High Court was for CBI probe into the criminal aspect of the education scam whereas the case pending in the Supreme Court is about challenging the earlier High Court order to constitute the High-Level Scrutiny Committee.
Kharshiing also said that the interlocutory application filed before the Supreme Court is very much misleading for the reason that the application stated that the PS case No 62(7)11 has already been investigated by the CBI in view of the observation of the single Judge.
However, Kharshiing asserted that PS case No 62(7)11 was never investigated by the CBI, nor was it part and parcel of the case brought before the single judge.