Kolkata, Aug 8 (IANS): The judicial custody ordered by a special court of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for four teachers in state run-schools who got jobs paying money, is a step in the right direction, feel experts in the field of the legal system.
While ordering for the judicial custody of the four accused teachers on Monday, the special court judge Arpan Chattopadhyay observed that these teachers approached the people concerned with money and none approached them voluntarily for money.
“Those getting jobs by paying money are the roots of such corrupt activities,” Chattopadhyay observed.
Supporting the observations of the special court judge, senior counsel of the Calcutta High Court Kaushik Gupta said that till now only the “demand” side of the corruption was seen in the cash for school job case.
"But now the process has started for addressing the "supply" side of corruption. As far as I know, the Central Bureau of Investigation named these four accused teachers as witnesses and not as accused. The judge of the special court of PMLA has rightly pointed out that these accused teachers are equally guilty for paying cash like those who received cash for jobs. This is a step in the right direction," Gupta told IANS.
According to retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and the former Additional Director General (ADG) of West Bengal police Nazrul Islam told IANS that in a way, these accused teachers represent both the “demand” and the "supply" sides.
"When they paid the money they represented the "supply" side and when they accepted the job against money they represented the "demand" side. But as you rightly said under the Prevention of Corruption Act in bribery cases, both the recipient and payer are guilty. While the recipient was beneficiary of cash he receives, the payer is beneficiary of the job they receive. There are separate sections under the Prevention of Corruption Act under which both the recipient and payer of the bribe can be punished," Islam told IANS.
Hailing the move the CPI(M) politburo member and the party’s state secretary in West Bengal Md Salim said the court order is a step in the right direction since those getting jobs paying cash are blots in the noble profession of teaching.