Corruption charge: B C Nagesh to sue school forum chief

Highlights

Minister for School Education & Literacy B C Nagesh said Monday that he would sue for defamation Lokesh Talikatte, president of the Registered Unaided Private Schools Management Association (RUPSA).

Last week, RUPSA went public with corruption allegations in the education department, naming the minister.

“I am discussing with my advocate. I’ll file a defamation case against Lokesh Talikatte soon,” Nagesh said, describing RUPSA’s allegations as “a political gimmick”.

RUPSA last week said it wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighting corruption in the issue of no-objection certificates (NOC), renewal of recognition and other processes involving the department.

“Making allegations without proper documents is irresponsible. This attempt by RUPSA is clearly a political gimmick and they are doing it to at the behest of a political party that wants to gain political advantage,” Nagesh said.

The minister even said that he would conduct an inquiry into the corruption allegations raised by the private schools association, but asked for propoer documents and “an official complaint”.

However, Nagesh mentioned that the association is making such allegations because the government started an inquiry into illegal schools. “They are trying to blackmail the department as we have started cracking down on schools functioning illegally. We will initiate action against schools functioning without proper affiliation,” Nagesh said.

On Monday, Nagesh directed the commissioner for public instruction to look into corruption allegations raised by the private schools’ associations. In a note, Nagesh directed the commissioner to collect documents/proofs from those making allegations.

Split in private school body?

On Monday, the Recognised Unaided Private Schools Association (RUPSA) issued a media statement clarifying that Lokesh Talikatte was no longer its president. Last week, Talikatte identified himself as RUPSA president and made corruption allegations on the education department. Talikatte said the statement was issued by a “fake” association. “We will be filing defamation and contempt of court charges against those who issued media statements against me,” he said.