Education Minister Partha Chatterjee on Thursday blamed Kalyani University (KU) for the cash-for-seat scam at a B.Ed (bachelor of education) college affiliated to the university.
“Whatever has happened has primarily taken place because the university was not vigilant and never monitored its affiliated colleges properly,” Mr. Chatterjee told presspersons on the sidelines of an event in the city. The remark is crucial as it comes at a time when Trinamool Congress students’ union leader Tanmoy Acharya has been blamed for taking cash from students and helping them getting admission.
Mr. Chatterjee did not have any word on the involvement of the students’ union leader. Only a day ago, Higher Education Department cancelled the six-member probe committee set up by the university. The developments refer to Bhaktabala B. Ed College at Chapra in Nadia district. While the institution has an intake capacity of 100 students, the college admitted 139, under ‘management’ quota taking an illegal amount of Rs. 1.5 lakh on average from students. The issue came to the fore when the university did not allow the 39 excess students to take the examination stating that they were not registered. The State government has set up a committee under Abhijit Chakraborty, vice chancellor of Jadavpur University, to probe the alleged irregularities. An interim report has been submitted to the State government.