The West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) on Saturday released the 2016 ‘tainted candidates list’ as per the Supreme Court order, and one of the prominent names included in the list was that of Ankita Adhikari, daughter of former Trinamool state minister Paresh Adhikari.
Ankita’s name was the 104th in the list of 1,804 'tainted' teachers, lending support to the claims that she used her father’s influence to get into the list.
Interestingly, her name was linked to the SSC recruitment scam, which rocked West Bengal early on. Paresh Adhikari, a former Left Front leader, switched to Trinamool on August 31, 2016. Shortly after, the SSC list came out and Ankita’s name was on the list for policial science teacher. She soon got an appointment at Indira Girls' High School, which is just 1 km from her home. The allegation was that the entire merit list was changed so as to include Ankita’s name.
The allegations were that Ankita scored just 61 marks while another candidate, Babita Sarkar, had 77. However, Ankita was selected instead of Babita due to her father’s influence. Babita went to court against this. The Calcutta High Court managed to annul Ankita’s appointment, and the post went to Babita. Ankita also went to the Supreme Court challenging the Calcutta High Court's verdict, but the bench by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna, also called her appointment 'suspicious'. Babita’s appointment was later annulled, and the post went to another candidate, Anamika Roy.
Interestingly, Ankita was seen in the job rally called by the Trinamool Congress in April. Though many be interpreted that it was an attempt by her to prove her eligibility, Ankita refused to comment on it. “The case is pending in the court. I have completed my PhD. Now I am not thinking about whether I will give the SSC exam or not," she added.
Trinamool later tried to justify the rally, stating it was a protest against the “conspiracy being hatched by the BJP and CPM to remove qualified teachers from their jobs." However, with the tainted list, Trinamool’s claims have been rendered baseless.
Meanwhile, Ankita is not the only minister’s daughter to get into the list. Roshnara Begum, daughter of Chopra Trinamool MLA Hamidul Rahman, also features on the tainted list. She has been teaching at the Kaliganj High School since 2018.