There have been several scams in West Bengal in recent years, as reported by the media:
Teachers’ recruitment scam: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has conducted raids and summoned Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee in connection with the scam1. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has estimated that the scam is worth Rs 200 crore and has uncovered a parallel scam in the municipalities. The Calcutta High Court has ordered the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education to cancel the jobs of 1911 illegally appointed Group D staff.
West Bengal SSC scam: The CBI has named former education minister Partha Chatterjee as the “mastermind” of the scam, and the ED has recovered Rs 20 crore in unaccounted cash from his close aide’s residence. The adjudicating authority of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act has confirmed that proceeds worth over Rs 100 crore generated from the scam belong to Chatterjee. The West Bengal Central School Service Commission has posted a list of 183 candidates who did not qualify in the 2016 examination but still figured in the merit list and were appointed in educational institutions.
Left rule job scams: The Trinamool Congress has accused Left leaders of running a scam in the education department during their 34-year regime in the state to get their kin into government services. The office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India detected 46,000 irregular recruitments in the education department in 2009-2010 when the Left Front was in power.
Chit fund scams: Bengal has become steeped in scams over the past decade, including chit fund scams, illegal coal, sand and stone mining scams, and teacher recruitment scams. Suvendu Adhikari, leader of opposition in West Bengal, has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing concern that the CBI was not acting against those holding high positions and involved in the decade-old Saradha chit fund scam.
(Various news sources)
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