National

“Fresh Voices On Table,” Says Shashi Tharoor About Chintan Shivir

Udaipur: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor describes the party’s Chintan Shivir as an exercise in reform and revival. He said that the proof of the pudding is in the eating and it remains to be seen whether the process will end up where many leaders wanted it to.

Shashi Tharoor was one among the group of 23 leaders who had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi in 2020 seeking large-scale reforms. He said that the reformists at the end of the day wanted a more consultative process where a wide variety of voices would be heard and taken into account before decisions were made.

Speaking with PTI he said, “If such discussions occur in the proposed advisory council, the purpose would have been served.”

“But that remains to be seen,” he added.

“Our proposals like the revival of the parliamentary board and the idea of elections to the Working Committee were both intended to bring fresh voices to the table. The final decisions after such discussions would always rest with the leadership,” he asserted.

Following Chintan Shivir in Udaipur, Sonia Gandhi announced an advisory group drawn from the Congress Working Committee. She Said, “It was not a collective decision-making body and would help her get the benefit of senior colleagues’ vast experience.”

Tharoor, referring to the deliberations at the Shivir said, “Serious discussions were held in a constructive spirit amid much talk of change in the air. But whether it will end up where many of us had wanted remains to be seen.” “Let’s say a process has begun that still needs to unfold over the next few months. The cliché holds true: the proof of the pudding is in the eating,” the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram added.

“Still, there remains no doubt that Rahul Gandhi would be the preferred choice of an overwhelming majority of party workers. He has not indicated whether he wants the job.” “I suppose we will have to wait for the proposed AICC (All India Congress Committee) to settle that issue,” Tharoor said.

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HC Directs CBI To Probe “Illegal” Appointments In Bengal Government-Aided Schools

Ashmita Chhabria

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court today upheld the decision of a single bench that instructed the CBI to investigate suspected illegal appointments made by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education on the School Service Commission’s recommendations (SSC).

Right after the division bench ordered, a single bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay directed state minister Partha Chatterjee to appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation. He has to appear at its office before 6pm on Wednesday, in connection with the SSC appointments scam.

The division bench, comprising justices Subrata Talukder and AK Mukherjee, termed “irregularities” in recommending appointments of teaching and non-teaching staff by SSC as a “public scam.” AK Mukherjee, said that the single bench of Justice Gangopadhyay was not wrong in ordering a probe into the alleged money trail involved.

The orders of the single bench require no intervention, said the division bench.

A five-member committee to oversee the appointment process for a 2016 panel for recruitment of teachers for classes 9 and 10 and group C and D staff in government-aided schools was illegal. Holding this, the single bench had ordered then state education minister to appear before the CBI.

When the alleged appointments were made, Chatterjee was the state education minister at that time. Currently he is the industry, commerce and parliamentary affairs minister of the Mamata Banerjee cabinet.

The single bench issued seven orders requesting the CBI to investigate alleged irregularities in the employment of teaching and non-teaching staff.

Of these, one was in group C, two in group D appointments and four in teachers’ recruitment for classes 9 and 10.

All these orders had earlier been stayed by the division bench on a series of appeals.

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