GUWAHATI, July 26 - Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today told the Assembly that vested interest groups including �at the highest level� had interfered in the efforts at making the appointment of teachers corruption and anomaly-free.
Sarma, who was replying to a question by Congress legislator Rekibuddin Ahmed regarding corruption at the Directorate of Madrassa, said that the lists of TET-passed candidates were sought to be changed through pressure at the highest level. He said things worsened to the extent that there was pressure from quarters like All-India Jamiyat which wanted to know the percentage of members of a particular community in the TET list.
�We wanted to make the TET a completely transparent and honest exercise, but vested interest quarters were hell-bent on thwarting it by sideling merit. The officials concerned were under tremendous pressure, as they were often called with the selected candidates� list. The TET lists had acknowledged the reservations endorsed by the Constitution of India, but how can we accommodate distortions as pressurised by the Jamiyat and others?� he said.
Stating that the Directorate of Madrassa Education became a den of corruption after it was created, Sarma said that the then Director (now suspended) Dr Kadam Ali patronised large-scale corruption in appointments.
�We are determined to rid the educational spheres of the ills plaguing it and make it transparent and accountable. We have already done away with the need for interview for third and fourth grade posts.�
AGP legislator Ramendra Narayan Kalita demanded that there be a probe into the alleged illegal appointments made during Dr Kadam Ali�s tenure as Madrassa Director.
