Kolkata: TMC MP Sougata Roy Wednesday blamed his suspended party associate Partha Chatterjee for lowering the dignity of the office of the vice-chancellor (VC) in the wake of North Bengal University (NBU) VC Subiresh Bhattacharya's arrest by CBI in connection with the teacher recruitment scam.
Roy, who was talking to reporters, said he was not sure what special qualifications of Bhattacharya had made the higher education department choose him for multiple posts - from the chairmanship of the School Service Commission to the VC from 2014 - 18, to the current post of VC of NBU.
"Bhattacharya did not have any loyalty to our party. He must have been loyal to one particular person. I think the party is in an embarrassing situation because of Partha Chatterjee," the veteran TMC leader said. Bhattacharya was also member of the Calcutta University Senate Committee and the principal of Shyamaprasad College in the city from which he did not resign. "What was his great qualification that a single individual should occupy so many posts?" Roy asked.
Expressing his anguish over the arrest of Bhattacharya, Roy said "A VC is in the jail lock up. Such developments lower the dignity of the VC's post". Reacting to Roy's outburst, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said "Roy is trying to shift the entire blame on one or two individuals. But that will not shield him and absolve the other party heavyweights of the grave injustice committed to thousands of deserving teaching job candidates who are holding protests in the city".
CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty too hit out. He said, "The prestige of Bengal in the entire country has been lowered with the arrest of a sitting VC by CBI. Roy being a professor must be aware there are more skeletons in the cupboard."
The CBI had arrested Bhattacharya on September 19 in connection with the malpractice in the teachers' recruitment scam in West Bengal in 2016. He was the chairman of the West Bengal School Service Commission between 2014 and 2018.
CBI had taken up the probe into the scam on the directive of the Calcutta High Court. Chatterjee had been arrested in connection with the SSC scam by ED in the last week of July and the former president of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education Kalyanmoy Ganguly was arrested last week in the same case. Former SSC adviser Santi Prasad Sinha had also been arrested in August. All are currently in CBI custody. (PTI)
