Bhubaneswar: A special court in Kataka has granted bail to former director of the Directorate of Teacher Education and State Council of Educational Research and Training (TE & SCERT) Manoj Kumar Padhy, who was arrested by the Crime Branch in connection with the alleged school textbook irregularities that led to the publication of error-ridden books and an estimated loss of Rs 175 crore to the state exchequer, official sources said Wednesday.
Allowing the bail application, the court held that while the alleged irregularities had caused substantial financial loss to the state and adversely affected nearly 46 lakh students, the prosecution had, at this stage, failed to place prima facie material showing that Padhy had derived any personal or pecuniary benefit from the alleged offences.
The court observed that the investigation had not produced any evidence of suspicious financial transactions involving the accused or his family members.
It also noted that the prosecution had not established that he had personally gained from the textbook publication process, the sources said.
Examining the records, the court found that the development, review and publication of the textbooks under the National Education Policy, 2020 involved multiple committees, subject experts, coordinators and government officials.
While Padhy was the approving authority as director, he functioned as the member-convener of the steering and core committees constituted by the government, the court said.
The court observed that subject-wise experts, reviewers and assistant directors had been entrusted with preparing, scrutinising and proofreading the manuscripts.
It said it was neither practical nor part of the director’s assigned responsibilities to personally examine every page of all 55 textbooks published in different languages.
Holding that further detention would serve no useful purpose and could amount to pre-trial punishment, the court granted bail on a bond of Rs1 lakh with two solvent sureties.
It directed Padhy to cooperate with the investigation, surrender his passport, refrain from leaving Odisha without prior court permission, and not influence witnesses or tamper with evidence.
