Not guilty. That was what the Meghalaya High Court had to say about the three accused in the education scam in the state. One of the accused, Ampareen Lyngdoh, is an NPP leader and a minister in the MDA Cabinet. The other two are government officials, JD Sangma and AL Lyngdoh.
The court did not appreciate the slow pace of the proceedings and was displeased with the ignominy and the mental anxiety that the accused had to face. In other words, the court felt pity and granted reprieve to the trio. We all wish that every court in every state felt pity for all those suffering due to long-pending legal fights and fast-tracked their judgment, like the Meghalaya High Court did. Let’s not dwell on the wishful thinking and move on to discuss the scam at hand.
The manipulations in the MPSC teachers’ selection process happened in 2008 and 2009 when Ampareen Lyngdoh was the education minister. The case came to light in 2010 following an RTI application filed by activist Agnes Kharshiing. A group of teachers filed a writ petition with the High Court in October 2011. It was found that the original list of selected candidates was tampered with white ink. Hence, the case became infamously known as the White Ink scam.
The High Court found massive irregularities and manipulation, and ordered a CBI investigation. In 2018, the Central Bureau of Investigation filed its chargesheet accusing Ampareen Lyngdoh, JD Sangma and AL Lyngdoh.
On September 4 this year, just a day before retirement, Justice IP Mukerji decided to bring down the curtain on the case. It took him just 13 pages to mete out justice to the three prime accused. In his order, he said, “About 17 years have rolled by. The first FIR was lodged on 18th July, 2011. Nothing has moved significantly in prosecuting the accused. Only 28 out of 181 witnesses have been examined. Such enormous delay in prosecuting a criminal case is also against the fundamental rights of the accused under Articles 21, 19 and 14 to lead a peaceful life free of mental anxiety caused by pendency of a criminal proceeding. At the rate it is proceeding examination of all witnesses, might take up the entirety of the remaining life of the accused….
Hence, “The entire criminal proceedings are hereby quashed,” the court said.
The order mentions that the CBI did not provide the original documents. However, the court did not call for records from the trial court. It also did not take the middle path of speeding up the trial, or giving a few months’ time to complete the process. Also, all three judges recused themselves, which paved the way for the Chief Justice to hear the case and decide instantly.
The honourable justice did not, or could not care to, mention the mental agony that the originally selected candidates had gone through in all these years. The mental anxiety of the accused was really unacceptable, considering that one of the accused is a respectable minister in the current government, and is already burdened with humongous responsibilities of multiple departments, including the law department.
As for the non-tainted candidates, as categorised by a high-level committee of the state government during the investigation, justice remains elusive, though they too have the fundamental right to lead a peaceful life free of mental anxiety. The court also ensured that there was no relief for the tainted candidates even after 17 years.
To sum up, the ones who facilitated the crime cannot be criminals; the ones on the receiving end of the crime must pay for shaking hands with the wrong people; and the ones who were caught in the whole viciousness must be doomed for life.
The judgment not only shocked citizens but also the CBI. It reiterated that the investigation found strong evidence against the trio, and despite this, they got away with not even a scratch on them.
Now, what will happen to those candidates who waited for justice? For them, the only flicker of hope is the CBI’s decision to move the Supreme Court.
The Meghalaya ‘White Ink’ scam, though smaller in scale, mirrors Madhya Pradesh’s Vyapam and West Bengal’s SSC scandals in eroding trust in public recruitment. All three reveal systemic manipulation, political shielding of accused officials, and delays that deny justice to deserving candidates. The difference lies in magnitude. Yet, all underscore the urgent need for transparent, time-bound accountability in education recruitment scams.
