HC order on education scam rattles Meghalaya Congress

A Division Bench of the High Court in Meghalaya has directed the CBI to probe the massive education scam, first unearthed in November 2012 during the previous Congress regime, pending against politicians. The court also told the CBI to look into the cancellation of teachers’ selection process at five centres.

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Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice VP Vaish has directed the state government to hand over the  record to the CBI.

This has come as a blow to the ruling Dr Mukul Sangma- led Congress government in Meghalaya. The verdict is bound to haunt the party in the runup to the Assembly polls next year. According to the court, there had been gigantic manipulations by way of obliterations, insertions and cuttings in the score sheets at five centres.

Five years ago in November 2012, prior to the Assembly poll, the first CBI report into the education scam had named a host of politicians, including the then Education Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh.

A year later, the High Court gave a final order leading to the cancellation of appointment of teachers, besides ordering a second CBI probe into the scam. 

Hazarika’s residence

Assam has initiated the process to buy back the Kolkata residence of the late (Dr) Bhupen Hazarika from its present owner for a cultural centre in that house in the memory of the singer-musician.

Assam’s Cultural Affairs Minister Naba Kumar Doley and media adviser to the CM, Hrishikesh Goswami have met Sushil Kumar Dangi, owner of 77, Golf Course residence, Tollygunge,  and made an offer on behalf of Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal.

Dr Hazarika, a Dadasaheb Phalke awardee, stayed in his Tollygunge residence in the fifties and sixties. He  became a towering figure in the cultural arena of West Bengal, especially Kolkata, during that period.

Dr Hazarika sold the house while shifting his base to Mumbai.

Film festival

Attending the first-ever international film festival held in the North East — the Guwahati International Film Festival — acclaimed filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan said `good films’ must also entertain besides provoking thought. “A good film should entertain. It should not be just a cerebral exercise. It is a wrong notion that only rubbish will entertain,” he said on the valedictory day of the film festival organised  by the Assam Government-owned Jyoti Chitraban (Film Studio) Society in association with Dr Bhupen Hazarika Regional Government Film and Television Institute.  More than 75 films from over 32 countries were screened.

Gopalakrishnan dismissed the notion that the film industry was facing gag orders. “India is a free country. One can make any film one wants. Nobody is stopping you,” he said.

Tribal as leader

The six MLAs in Tripura, who recently shifted allegiance from the Trinamool Congress to the BJP, have selected veteran tribal leader Diba Charan Hrangkhawl as the Leader of theBJP Legislature Party. The six MLAS – Sudip Roy Barman, Ashis Saha, Biswabandhu Sen, Paranjit Singha Roy and Diba Charan Hrangkhawl – had shifted to the Trinamool from the Congress in June 2016. Earlier this year, all of them were expelled from the Trinamool for hobnobbing with the BJP. They then joined the BJP in August, enabling the BJP to make into the Tripura Assembly for the first time.

Hrangkhawl’s elevation was expected, given that the BJP has been trying to woo tribal voters in Tripura who dominate  in 25 of the total 60 Assembly seats.