look news india
The Basic Education Department has taken the strictest and strictest stand so far against teachers who grab jobs with the help of fake documents in council primary and upper primary schools of Uttar Pradesh. According to the new guidelines of the government and the department, teachers who had secured jobs on the basis of fake educational qualifications, fake TET certificates or on someone else’s records on the lines of the much talked about cases like Anamika Shukla, are not only being dismissed with immediate effect, but an order has been issued to recover the entire salary taken during the service period along with interest. Even the arguments of fake teachers who have served for more than 10 to 15 years are not working.
Departmental investigation and vigilance investigation revealed the fact that many teachers in various districts of the state (like Gonda, Basti, Deoria, Kushinagar, Prayagraj, Aligarh etc.) were teaching comfortably with the help of fake degrees for the last 10 to 15 years and after getting promotion, had even become headmasters. When digital verification of documents was done on Manav Sampada Portal and cross-verification of records from universities (like Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University, Agra and Sampurnanand Sanskrit University), these degrees were exposed. Many teachers tried to get relief by arguing that they have been in service for a long time and have taught regularly, but under the express orders of the High Court and the Basic Education Council, any appointment made on the basis of fraud has been considered ‘void ab-initio’.
According to the order issued, a clear outline has been set regarding the process of recovery from teachers found to be fake:
-
Full recovery of pay and allowances: All the salary, dearness allowance (DA), house rent allowance (HRA) and bonus given from the date of joining as a teacher till the day of dismissal will be recovered from the government treasury.
-
Recovery as land revenue dues: If the dismissed teachers do not voluntarily deposit back the government money, a ‘Revenue Recovery Certificate’ (RC) will be issued through the district administration (District Magistrate’s office). Under this, the amount will be recovered by confiscating the immovable property of the accused.
-
Benefits of PF and Gratuity also ended: If found to be fake, the Provident Fund (PF) will not have any right to any kind of pensionary benefit including government contribution and gratuity.
The Director General and Secretary of the Basic Education Department have directed the Basic Education Officers (BSA) of all the districts not to limit themselves only to termination of service. It is mandatory to file an FIR against fake teachers in the concerned police stations under the relevant sections of the Indian Code of Justice (BNS) such as cheating, forgery and embezzlement of government funds. Along with this, STF is also being linked to the investigation to reach the roots of the brokers involved in this entire syndicate and the gangs that issued fake marksheets.
The digital system implemented to bring transparency in the department has made it easier to identify fake teachers:
-
PAN and Aadhaar Seeding on Manav Sampada Portal: When the data of PAN card, Aadhar card and service book of teachers was matched at the central level, shocking cases of jobs in many districts on the same name, roll number or PAN were detected.
-
Auto-Verification from University Database: The 10th, 12th, graduation and B.Ed/BTC certificates were directly matched with the digital records of the state universities, which immediately revealed the difference between hand-made or printed fake marksheets.
This strict step of the government has raised the hope of getting justice to those lakhs of deserving and genuine candidates who prepare for competitive examinations for years but are deprived due to fraud. This is a clear message from the Basic Education Department that no matter how many years have passed for those who have entered the temple of education through fraud, it is now completely impossible for them to escape from the clutches of the law and government recovery.
