Civic school board chairman, member asked to step down

PUNE: Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the civic school education board will move a no-confidence motion against board chairman Pradeep Dhumal and former chairman Ravi Chaudhari, who are facing allegations of corruption. They have issued notices to the two members to resign from their posts.
“The members have been removed from their party (Nationalist Congress Party).A criminal offence has been registered against them and they were also arrested. They have no right to be on the board until they are proved innocent in this case,” Raghunath Gauda, a BJP member of the board, told TOI.
He said that as per the rules, the two members have been issued notices that give 15 days to step down from their posts. If they don’t put in their papers, a special board meeting will be called. They will be given a chance to explain their stand at the meeting. If they don’t give a convincing explanation, they will have to face a no-confidence motion on the floor.
The NCP has “temporarily” suspended Dhumal and Chaudhari from the party, but has not asked them to step down from their posts on the school board.
The anti-corruption bureau (ACB) had registered a case against Dhumal, Chaudhari, school board office clerk Santosh Ramdas Memane and middleman Bhausaheb B Bhapkar on June 18, for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 2 lakh from a teacher to facilitate his transfer from Ahmednagar to Pune. A special court had remanded Dhumal and Chaudhari in police custody till June 26.
According to the ACB, Bhapkar had accepted the bribe at the behest of the three others. Dhumal and Chaudhari had initially gone missing, but had later surrendered before the authorities.