Manipur: KKL demands expulsion of COHSEM Chairman over alleged misappropriation of funds

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By Halley Nongmaithem

IMPHAL:

The Kangleipak Kanba Lup (KKL), Manipur, has demanded the ouster of the chairman of the Council of Higher Secondary Education, Manipur (COHSEM), Lamabam Mahendra Singh, for his alleged involvement in several financial irregularities and misappropriation of funds.

According to a KKL press release issued on Thursday, the COHSEM chairman had recruited 49 individuals against the 19 posts in the COHSEM that were allotted in the 2019 recruitment.

They alleged that several of the new recruits were relatives of the office bearers of COHSEM and accused Singh of using the bribe money to purchase and construct a four-storied house at Kwakeithel area in Imphal.

The KKL further alleged that the chairman of COHSEM had purchased answer sheets for the next five years amounting to Rs 1.4 crore against the established norm for annual placement of the order and had drawn more than Rs 1.5 crore from the corpus fund of COHSEM for the construction of an extension of the present building.

The KKL also requested the state government to remove the chairman from office and institute a vigilance inquiry against him failing which the KKL would resort to various tactics, including strikes and bandhs.COHSEM chairman Lamabam Mahendra Singh has so far refrained from commenting on the matter.

However, COHSEM secretary Ch. Biren Singh said, “We have done nothing wrong, it was a direct recruitment, and the advertisement notification had mentioned that the post may increase or decrease and is subject to change”.

“It was initially concluded that the advertised post might suffice the requirements, but additional staff were required for the RTI cell, pension cell, legal cell and National Academy Depository (NAD) and IT cell which led to additional staff being recruited,” he added.

The secretary also stated that they were ready to provide all necessary documents to the authorities if required.

(Edited by Christopher Gatpoh)

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