Kolkata: Calcutta High Court dismissed Friday a West Bengal minister’s daughter from her job in a government-aided school. The high court also asked Ankita Adhikari to return the salary she had drawn during her 41-month tenure as a teacher. The single bench of Justice Avijit Gangopadhyay directed Minister of State for Education Paresh Chandra Adhikari’s daughter to deposit the salary paid to her since November 2018 in two installments with the registrar general of the high court.
The high court bench ordered that Ankita should not be treated as a teacher recommended by the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) and appointed by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education. It also barred her from entering the school premises till further orders. She has to pay the first installment by June 7 and the second by July 7 this year.
The high court was hearing a petition filed by a candidate. She claimed she was deprived of the position despite having secured higher marks than Adhikari’s daughter in the recruitment examination. The petitioner had claimed that she had secured 77 marks and Ankita only 61.
The high court had ordered a CBI probe into the appointment. Paresh is currently being grilled by the CBI sleuths in this regard.
The high court ordered that Ankita’s post will remain vacant and shall be earmarked for the petitioner.
The central agency had Thursday filed an FIR against Paresh after he failed to meet the deadline set by the high court for appearance before its sleuths in connection with the case.
Paresh, along with his daughter, was booked under IPC sections 420 (cheating and dishonesty) and 120B (criminal conspiracy), besides sections under the Prevention of Corruption Act.