After the teachers’ recruitment scam came to light, senior officials of the UT Administration have been keeping one of their colleagues at arm’s length. Director Public Instructions (Schools) Samwartak Singh Khangwal is not welcome at most places.

Senior officials reportedly want to keep him at a distance till the Chandigarh Police concludes investigation into the teachers’ recruitment scam, in which the DPI (S) is suspected to be involved.

“In fairness of justice, I have instructed my personal assistant that Samwartak Singh is not to be given any appointment till the inquiry initiated against him is over,” a senior official of the Administration told Newsline. “He tried to meet me several times, but I am not meeting him till his innocence is proved.”

Also, in the last fortnight, nearly half a dozen meetings, which Samwartak Singh had to attend as a member, have been postponed — though he attended a few public functions recently.

“To me, Samwartak appears to be an upright officer, but the umpteen numbers of calls exchanged between him and the prime accused are beyond any explanation. It will be hard for him to explain all those phone calls,” another senior official said.

Home Secretary Ram Niwas, meanwhile, has instructed the Superintendent of Police, Madhur Verma, to expedite inquiry into the scam.

On Wednesday, fresh instructions were issued to Verma for submitting a ‘fair and unbiased’ inquiry report, elaborating Samwartak’s role in the case.

Police waiting for his reply

Samwartak, on the other hand, is reportedly consulting a battery for lawyers to ready answers to the 25 questions the police have asked him.

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