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Journalism of Courage
On paper, the Jharkhand government-run Regional Institute of Technology (RIT) is like any other engineering college. But there the similarity ends. For though it is registered under the Society Registration Act, 1864, its chairman wasn’t appointed or its board reconstituted as per the RIT’s Memorandum of Articles.
Instead, Science and Technology Minister Samresh Singh, under whose jurisdiction the RIT functions, flouted all rules laid under the Act and appointed himself as the chairman without the Centre clearing his name. He also appointed its Principal and Registrar.
The trio then appointed many employees to the RIT allegedly in exchange for bribes to the tune of tens of thousands of rupees. On February 13, 2001, the government ordered the Vigilance Department to probe into these ‘‘illegal appointments’.
Ultimately, however, while the vigilance department never interrogated the minister, he continued to hold the post. Subsequently, Samresh, along with five rebel ministers, including Energy Minister Lalchand Mahato, compelled Marandi to step down.
This time, his ire was directed at Munda for not giving the marching orders to Science and Technology Secretary Debi Patra. While Munda’s response to Samresh’s public outpourings is not known, Rai is again gunning for the minister. Now he alleges that Samresh siphoned off the MLA’s Area Development Fund to construct, repair and renovate a Bokaro-based private engineering college of which he was a builder.
Responding to these charges, Mahato said: ‘‘He (Rai) is an outsider (Bihari) who frequently flies to Patna and Delhi. Where is he getting the money from?’’
