Principal thrown out over 'ghost workers', false bills

Bills of samosas from a shop in east Delhi’s Trilokpuri were found in the list of expenses of a Delhi government school in President’s Estate during a surprise check on Wednesday which ended in the principal’s suspension over several wrongdoings.

“Ghost” sanitation workers were also detected in the salary accounts books of the Rajinder Prasad Senior Secondary Sarvodaya School during the personal check by Education Minister Manish Sisodia and officials.

“The school which was offering a course in food production did not have a lab for practicals while the expenses of a lab were being regularly shown in the accounts,” said an aide of Sisodia.

“During the inspection, a blank bill book was recovered from the principal’s almirah, following which the case has been referred to the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) for registration of an FIR against the principal and a teacher involved,” said an official in Sisodia’s office.

The teacher, who used to make fake bills for the principal, was removed from service.  Students studying food production told the minister they had virtually never been given any relevant information about the subject, but scrutiny of the bills showed that in the name of practicals, fake bills showing purchases of non-vegetarian food items, olive oil, potatoes and rice were regularly raised.

The surprise check by Sisodia followed complaints received by the government from students. It was further shocking was that bills were found to have been raised from shops in far-off places like Seemapuri and Trilokpuri in east Delhi and Jahangirpuri in north Delhi for school situated in central Delhi,” said an official.

Some bills from Trilokpuri related to snacks like samosas bought from Trilokpuri which is a good 15-20 km from the school, he said. There was no mention of the goods purchased in the stock register of the school and no TIN (Taxpayer Identification Numbers) were mentioned, he said.

During the inspection it was found that many fake bills appeared to have been prepared in a hurry, in which the amount of purchases done against the quantity mentioned did not tally, he said.

“The account books of the school showed salary payments to five safai karamcharis, but it was found that only one karamchari was on duty, which was confirmed by teachers and students,” he said. The lone safai karamchari on duty told the minister that he was paid only half the amount of what he was asked to sign on papers.