Howrah Akshay Shikshayatan: In the eye of a storm. Picture by Sanat Kumar Sinha

The head teacher of a girls’ school in Howrah has accused the secretary of the managing committee of the institute and a boys’ school that operates from the same building of embezzling Rs 1 crore over 20 years.

The complaint lodged with the district superintendent of police implies that the clerks of the district inspector of schools’ office also had a hand in the misappropriation of the schools’ fund.

The financial irregularities at Howrah Akshay Shikshayatan and Binodini Girls High School, at 1 Jaynarayan Santra Lane, were discovered in September last year by Shyamal Kumar Mitra after he was appointed drawing and disbursement officer of the institutions.

Mitra, who later became administrator of the schools, alerted the district inspector about the matter.

It was found that the school managing committee had not forwarded the pension application of an assistant teacher who had retired in 2003. The panel had been drawing her salary by forwarding fake salary slips.

“I came to know last year that someone had been drawing salary in my name since 2003,” said Jyotsna Sen-Roychoudhury, the assistant teacher.

Two teachers of the girls’ school — Alpana Daw, who joined in 2001, and Susmita Mukherjee, who joined in 1976 — had not received house rent allowance since their appointment.

The managing committee had drawn their allowance by forging their signatures.

Kaustav Dalal, a teacher of Akshay Shikshayatan, went on leave without pay.

The managing committee did not apprise the district inspector’s officer of his leave and continued to draw his salary by forging his signature.

When this was revealed, the managing committee paid the teacher the amount it had drawn as salary fraudulently.

The schools’ accounts have not been audited for two decades.

When Mitra asked the managing committee for the salary slips, the members told him that they had been stolen.

After Mitra showcaused the managing committee citing financial anomalies, the panel passed the buck to the girls’ school head teacher Ashoka Mukherjee.

She said: “The committee embezzled the money by forging my signature. Therefore, I lodged a complaint against the schools’ secretary, Ramendranarayan Bhattacharya, and clerk Pranab Kumar Mitra.”