ED relief to seized school

TT, Siliguri, Oct. 31: The principal of Lincolns School here today said the Enforcement Directorate, which had seized the institution along with other properties of the Saradha Group, would appoint an administrator to run it.

The school with over 800 students is affiliated to the ISC board and has classes till 12. Saradha Group chief Sudipta Sen had bought the institution from a local businessman in November 2010 and till the scam was exposed last year, the school was being run by Saradha Educational Enterprises Limited, one of the companies of the group. The institution was seized early last week.

“There were media reports that ED has seized all properties of Saradha Group, including this school, in north Bengal. This triggered panic among students, guardians and even a section of teaching and non-teaching staff. They were apprehensive that the school would close down,” principal Sampa Dutta Roy said today. “We felt relieved after a senior official from the ED called me up and said although the property had been seized, there would be no effect on the regular operations and an administrator would be appointed for it.”

The institution has around 70 staff members. The lower classes are held on the Milanpally campus here and the higher classes on the outskirts of Siliguri. The administrator will look after both campuses.

“After the Saradha scam, a committee, with the district magistrate of Darjeeling as the chairman, was formed to run the school. Now that the institution has been seized, the ED would depute an administrator. All possible steps would be taken to ensure that studies of so many students are not hampered in any way,” said a source at the ED.

Sources said a letter confirming the appointment would be sent to the school soon.

“We had written to the state government requesting it to take over the school. While the monthly collection of fees amounts to around Rs 12 lakh, we need to spend around Rs 14 lakh per month. For the past one-and-a-half-year, we have been running the school with a monthly deficiency of around Rs 2 lakh,” a senior teacher said. “We have learnt that the ED officials have also discussed this. They are likely to instruct the administrator to strike a balance between income and expenditure. So far, there has been no response from the state regarding our proposal to acquire the institution and and save us from the crisis.”