IMPHAL, March 5: The Gauhati High Court, Imphal bench today issued a stay order to the Government of Manipur that the list of recently selected candidates for upper primary teachers recruited under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan scheme shall not be effectual and that appointment orders shall not be issued.
The directive was passed by a division bench comprising of Justice T Vaiphei and PK Musahary today, following four writ petitions filled by complainants in the regard that the selection of the upper primary teachers was not carried out in accordance to Government recruitment rules and various discrepancies have been found in the manner of selection.
The counsel on behalf of the petitioners moved in court that the state government respondents which includes the principal secretary Education (S), project director of SSA to adhere to the eligibility criteria stipulated under the central notification dated 23/8/2010 and to quash the relevant portion of Rule 7 of the state government’s recruitment rules dated 7/4/2011 and to consider the eligible candidates with B.Ed. or equivalent as fit for appointment to the available posts. It prayed to appoint the candidates with the relaxed qualifications against any post left vacant after the first exercise.
The counsel pointing out irregularities including tempering of marks notified the bench that an individual having form number 80668 in a pre-qualification test had obtained 53%, whereas the same in the select list got 63.349. It was added that even with percentage increase from the TET and other criteria, an anomaly was witnessed and further prayed to direct an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the process of selection.
A prayer was made to stay the final selection of the recruitment of upper primary teachers which was notified by the SSA last Tuesday that it was done in complete violation of the eligibility criteria laid down by the Central Government/ National Council for Teachers Education.
The petition of the counsel was heard by the Division Bench and found certain inconsistencies between orders issued by the Centre and the state government. It was also found to be contrary to an order and judgment dated 16/2/2012 passed in writ petition (C) 87/2012. Hence, the stay order by the court directed state government representatives that appointment letters for the selected upper primary teachers shall not be given.
Further, a similar case is scheduled for hearing in the same court on February 7 regarding complaint cases received in selection of the primary teachers.