NEW DELHI: Lieutenant governor V K Saxena on Thursday granted permission to the anti-corruption branch (ACB) to conduct an investigation against two serving and two retired vice principals in an alleged case of embezzlement of funds by paying salaries to “non-existent guest teachers” in a Delhi government school. According to officials, the four vice principals allegedly paid over Rs 4.2 lakhs to three guest teachers of Govt. Boys Senior Secondary School in northeast Delhi’s Mansarovar Park between April 2016 and March 2018 though none of them was actually appointed in the school. One of the “ghost” guest teachers is said to be the wife of Chhote Lal Shastri, one of the vice principals, who has now retired from service. “A total payment of Rs. 4,21,656 was made to three persons, namely Samiksha Arya – Rs. 1,35,900; Uma Shastri – Rs. 1,42,078; and Chottey Lal — Rs. 1,43,678 despite the fact that neither of the three was appointed in the school,” the LG office said. The four vice principals are Shastri and Satyendar Kumar Sharma – both retired – and Rajiv Kumar and Ravinder Kumar Jatav. Kumar and Jatav are still in service. TOI couldn’t get in touch with the people named to get their version. Officials said an internal audit of the school accounts carried out in November 2018 had found that there were discrepancies and irregularities in preparing the bills in respect of the salaries of guest teachers, pointing towards misappropriation of government funds. The case was then referred to the ACB. “These irregularities and discrepancies detected first time in November 2018 by the audit team were established through ACB’s preliminary inquiry vide report dated 22.11.2019. Since the matter pertained to the embezzlement of government funds, the ACB sought the permission of the directorate of education (DoE) for registering an FIR,” said an official. “The DoE further referred it to the directorate of vigilance, which examined the matter and proposed that approval should be taken from the LG to proceed under section 17A of Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018,” the officials added. After going through the case file, which came to the LG from DOE and directorate of vigilance on August 28, 2022, the LG observed that the matter required to be thoroughly investigated. “I have carefully considered the submission on the pre-pages and the facts and records of the case and I am of the view that this matter requires investigation by the ACB. In view of the foregoing, I hereby accept the request of the ACB and grant permission under section 17A of the POC (Amendment) Act, 2018 for conducting an investigation,” said the LG in his noting. According to officials, there are about 25,000 contractual guest teachers working in schools run by the Delhi government. “The case brings to fore a devious modus operandi that involves fraudulently appointing ghost guest teachers against permanent vacancies, cooking up their non-existent attendance and drawing salaries in their names,” said an official.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/lgs-nod-for-acb-to-probesalary-scam-in-govt-school/articleshow/94232079.cms