KOLKATA: Denying an allegation that his daughter Sukanya Mondal was appointed to a primary school without having cleared Teachers' Eligibility Test, arrested TMC leader Anubrata Mondal on Thursday claimed that she has passed the exam and has a document to prove it.
His comment came after the Calcutta High Court had on August 17 directed Mondal's daughter to appear before it on Thursday in connection with the allegation that she and five others were appointed in primary schools without having passed the TET.
"She has passed the test and has a certificate to prove it. I am not well," said the TMC leader while he was taken to a hospital for a medical check-up.
Mondal, the party's Birbhum district president, was arrested by the CBI last week in a cattle smuggling case.
Sukanya is likely to appear before the high court as she left her Bolpur residence in the district earlier in the day.
The petitioner has alleged that some people closely related to Anubrata Mondal, who is also the chairman of West Bengal Rural Development Authority, have been given jobs as teachers, including Sukanya, who never visited Kalikapur Primary School in Birbhum, where she was employed.
In the affidavit, the petitioner claimed that the school attendance register was sent to Sukanya's residence for her signature.
Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay directed six persons named in the affidavit to appear personally on Thursday before the court with their TET certificate and their appointment letter.
"If anybody fails to appear, as has been directed above, the court will not hesitate to take harsh steps against them," he directed on Wednesday.
Justice Gangopadhyay had earlier ordered CBI investigation in a number of cases of alleged irregularities in the appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff in West Bengal government-sponsored and -aided schools in the state.
Meanwhile, state Education Minister Bratya Basu on Wednesday met the protesting aspirants for school teacher jobs and assured them of justice.
After the meeting with a six-member delegation of Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) aspirants at his office in Bikash Bhaban, Basu said he was hopeful that their issues will be resolved soon.
"The meeting was fruitful. The government will act according to the court's verdict. But this time, we hope the issues will be resolved very soon," he said.
"Mentioning any particular date means putting pressure on us. As you can see, we are now holding discussions. The government will take steps regarding recruitment as soon as possible," he told reporters, without giving any timeline for starting the hiring process.
A member of the delegation said they will wait for the government to announce the date regarding the commencement of the recruitment process.
Earlier, Basu held two meetings with the protesting School Service Commission (SSC) job aspirants.
The protesters have been staging demonstrations for over 500 days at Mayo Road in central Kolkata, alleging irregularities in the earlier recruitment drives by the SSC.
Basu had announced on August 8 that the state would start the recruitment process of 21,000 teachers at upper primary, secondary, and higher secondary levels within a stipulated time, possibly by Durga Puja in October.
On the direction of the Calcutta High Court, the CBI is probing alleged anomalies in the recruitment of Group-C and Group-D staff, as well as teachers in government-sponsored and aided schools.
The Enforcement Directorate last month arrested Partha Chatterjee, who was the education minister when the alleged irregularities took place.