Imphal, October 02: Even as Governor Dr SS Sidhu has sought a report of the verification drive conducted by the State Government to detect fake appointments of teachers and employees in the Education Department, matter has come to light that a Bill Clerk of a Government college had fraudulently withdrawn a sum of Rs 21 lakhs from the General Provident Fund of lecturers and Grade IV employees.

Speaking to The Sangai Express a reliable source said that the Governor has sent an intimation to the School Education Department seeking a report of the verification drive conducted recently to detect fake appointments in the Education Department.

The verification process was conducted under the supervision of the respective Deputy Commissioners.

The Education Department is however yet to submit the report to the Governor and added that it has not even been able to submit its report to the Education Minister.

Even as the Education Department is embroiled in unsavoury incidents during the last few months, matter has come to light that a Bill Clerk of the Higher Education Department had fraudulently withdrawn a sum of Rs 21 lakhs from the GPF of Heads of Department, Readers, Senior Lecturers and Grade IV employees of a Government college.

A source informed The Sangai Express that the college in question here is Thoubal College and added that the Bill Clerk who fraudulently withdrew the GPF amount of the teachers and Grade IVB employees is one Md Saheruddin of Lilong.

The matter came to light when the College authority checked the balance sheets for the GPF of the teachers and Grade IV employees which were received on September 27.On checking it was found that the money in the accounts of the teachers and employees had decreased.

The amount was withdrawn by the Bill Clerk in instalments between October and December 2004.The Bill Clerk forged the signatures of the then Principal of the college, Y Kula, Director of Higher Education and the Under Secretary, said the source further.

The Bill Clerk, Saheruddin also forged the signatures of the teachers, said the source and added that the signatures forged by the Bill Clerk included the Head of Department of Zoology, Dr L Ibungohal (Rs 2.3 lakhs), Head of Department of Geology Dr Th Ranjit (Rs 2.15 lakhs), Senior Lecturer of Botany Dr H Manoranjan (Rs 2.1 lakhs) and History Lecturer H Seityabati (Rs 1.9 lakhs).

As per the balance sheets submitted by the Government, none of the account numbers of the four teachers were found correct, said the source and added that three teachers who are yet to receive their balance sheets but whose money have been fraudulently withdrawn include, Botany Lecturer RK Bhorot (Rs 1.8 lakhs), Head of Department of Education Md Yunus Ali (Rs 1.6 lakhs) and another Rs 70,000 from a teacher, whose name is not available.

The GPF amount of Grade IV employees of the college which have been fraudulently withdrawn is Rs 5 lakhs, said the source further.

The employees have received their bill copies, said the source and added that three teachers have received their GPF bill which says that money has been withdrawn but this was not reflected in the balance sheet.

The three teachers who have received their bill but which are not reflected in the balance sheet are identified as Samphaba, Nabakumar and Iboyaima.

The source said that even the surnames of the teachers have been entered wrongly in the balance sheet.

The fraudulent withdrawal of the money has been intimated to the Government said the source and added that the Principal of the College has written to the authority concerned to take up fitting action.

The source also questioned how the Treasury Department passed the bill even though in some cases the accounts of the teachers did not match at all.

Some employees of the Treasury may have worked hands in gloves with the Bill Clerk, added the source.

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