MADURAI: The Madurai Bench recently directed the CB-CID to initiate criminal prosecution against the educational authorities with whose collusion a private trust in Thoothukudi allegedly scammed several individuals by promising them jobs in govt schools.
Justice B Pugalendhi gave the direction on a batch of bail and anticipatory bail petitions filed by some of the accused. The judge noted that the court has already granted interim relief to the petitioners and none of them are in prison. He ordered continuation of the relief on condition that they should cooperate with the investigation.
He also observed that the appointment of teachers is only done by the Teachers Recruitment Board. However, a fraud has been committed by creating a Trust – Aadhava Students Welfare Trust – as if they are providing teaching jobs in government schools, he said, adding that this would not be possible without the collusion of edu authorities.
The judge noted that the court, while denying anticipatory bail to the first accused, had on January 19, 2024, ordered the director of school education to conduct an inquiry and take action against erring officials within 3 months.
The case was originally registered by the Thoothukudi district crime branch in July 2023, based on a complaint by Shanmugalakshmi that she had not received salary despite being appointed as a government schoolteacher. The prosecution alleged that the Trust had signed MoUs with district and chief educational officers for offering infrastructure and teacher training. Using this, it collected money from several individuals promising them jobs in government schools. The Trust initially paid salaries for some time and then cheated them.