VIVEK SHARMA
JAMMU: Failing to reach any conclusion, despite constitution of two committees, J&K Education Department on Tuesday set up another panel to verify the degrees and testimonials of Teachers promoted as Masters, allegedly on the basis of fake diplomas.
An eleven-member committee has been formed to decide the fate of 1,193 teachers vide No DSEJ/NG/M/Prom/7255-68 dated February 11, 2014 with a direction to submit its report by December 6, 2016.
After STATE TIMES’ expose on of promotion of 1193 Teachers as Masters, mostly on the basis of fake and unrecognised degrees and subsequent registration of two FIRs against two IAS and three KAS officers and others, the Directorate of Education Jammu has been delaying the information to the State Vigilance Organisation (SVO) with regard to names of promotees and their controlling officers, including the Chief Education Officers (CEOs) and Zonal Education Officers (ZEOs) who verified and incorporated their degrees on service books.
However, responding to STATE TIMES report, published on November 8, 2016 under caption ” RECORDS MISSING; Seven Directors changed but ‘swindler’ clerk remains in place, ” the Education Department assigned the job to the third panel for authenticating qualifications of Teachers promoted as Maters vide Order No DESJ/NG/M/7255-68 dated 11th February 2014.
The Committee, constituted , vide order 584-DSEJ of 2016 dated November 15, 2016, will be headed by Principal, State Institute of Education (SIE) Jammu. The members include, Romesh Chander, Sudarshan Kumari, Rita Sharma, Principals Directorate of School Education (DSE) Jammu; Nand Kishore Principal SIE Jammu; Namrata Khajuria Principal/HOD DIET, Jammu; Karan Maini, Lecturer DSE Jammu; Amita Gandotra, Tapasya Sharma, Rakhi Attri and Aruna Dutta, Research Officers SIE Jammu; and Pawan Khajuria Lecturer DIET, Jammu.
The committee has been asked to process the verification and to consolidate all the information as per format and record full signatures at the bottom of the each page.
The administrative staff comprising Ram Paul, Head Assistant ZEO Office Marh; Ashok K Dhar Senior Asstt, ZEO Office, Gandhi Nagar; Ravi Razdan Senior Asstt DSE Jammu; Rajesh Kumar Junior Asstt. SRML HSS Jammu; Naresh Kumar Junior Asstt DSE Jammu; Gurucharan Singh Master HSS Ramnagar for computerization of data, shall assist the verification committee.
The committee has been asked to submit the final report on December 6, 2016 to Babila Rakwal, Director School Education, Jammu, the Order stated.
The case has been lingering for a long. According to the FIRs, two IAS officers, during their tenure as Director School Education (DSE Jammu), promoted teachers as Masters on the basis of B.Ed degrees obtained from unrecognized Universities during the years 2013 and 2014 respectively.
According to FIR 29/15, in 2013, P.K. Pole, IAS, the then Director School Education Jammu, Chairman Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) and other members namely Rashid Azam Inqalabi the then Addl. Secretary to Govt. School Education, Narupa Rai, KAS Personnel officer to Director School Education, S.K. Gandotra, the then Joint Director School Education under a conspiracy hatched among themselves and with concerned ZEOs and CEOs had illegally promoted beneficiary teachers as Masters on the basis of invalid degrees in violation of Govt. Order No.252 of 2012 dated 30th May 2012 . Similarly in FIR 30/15, verification conducted by SVO revealed that in 2014, the then Director School Education Jammu, Chairman Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) and other members, Rashid Azam Inqalabi the then Addl. Secretary to Govt. School Education, Susheel Kumar, KAS the then Personnel officer to Director School Education, Saif Ali and the then Jt. Director School Education, under a conspiracy hatched among themselves and with concerned ZEOs and CEOs had again illegally promoted beneficiary teachers as Masters on the basis of invalid degrees.
Both the FIRs have been registered under Section 5(1) (d) read with sections 5 (2) J&K Prevention of Corruption Act. 2006 and Sections 420, 467, 468 and 120-B RPC.
First inquiry committee was formed on 13th August, 2015, the then Director School Education Yasha Mudgal had ordered a probe into the promotion of teachers on the basis of fake B.Ed degrees, as exclusively exposed by STATE TIMES, wherein two Field Advisors and three Principals were appointed as members.
Second committee was formed on September 4, 2015 vide Order No 510 DSEJ of 2015.
The Directorate of Education, Jammu, was reported to be delaying the information to the State Vigilance Organisation (SVO) with regard to names of such promotees and their respective heads including the Chief Education Officers (CEOs) and Zonal Education Officers (ZEOs) who verified and enrolled their degrees on service books. However, despite series of reminders by SVO to Director Education Jammu vide letter number Veri-©-20/2014-6125 dated 21st April 2015, who took up the matter with CEOs of Jammu, Kathua, Samba, Rajouri and Poonch vide numbers DSEJ/NG/M/Vig/2071-77 dated 7th May 2015 and DSEJ/NG/M/73369-75 dated 30th May, 2016, no information was shared with the investigating agency.
In another recent reminder issued on November 8, 2016, the SSP Vigilance has again asked the Directorate of Education to provide the entire record to the promotions. As per list issued by the Director School Education Jammu vide No. SEJ/NG/M/Prom./7255/681 dated 11th February 2014, 1193 teachers had been promoted as Masters. Of these over 450 teachers were reportedly promoted on the basis of B.Ed degrees obtained from Open Universities through distance-mode particularly from Jamia Urdu Aligarh University (UP).
Many teachers who were enrolled in B.Ed course for the session 2012-13 in Kashmir/Jammu University were deliberately left.
The promotion orders were issued on 11th February 2014 without waiting for the results of Kashmir and Jammu Universities, which were declared on 22nd February 2014 and 15th March 2014 respectively.
The scam came to fore when credentials of the Jamia Urdu Aligarh (UP) came under scanner after the Rajouri Police conducted a raid during the examinations on 28th December 2013. The police had seized the records.
Thirteen candidates, all government teachers, appearing for examination, were nabbed while others had managed to escape. During investigation, it was established that the Centre was affiliated to Jamia Urdu Aligarh University of UP and the government teachers of Poonch and Rajouri area were appearing in the paper. Interestingly, the exam was to be conducted at 10:00 A M that day but the organisers chose 10:00 PM for obvious reasons.
FIR 98/2013, under Sections 409,120-B,420 and 2/3 RPC was registered against them at Rajouri.
The University of Jammu vide its letter No PIO/JU/14/10933 dated 30th March 2014 had clearly stated that “Jamia Urdu Aligarh University (UP) is neither recognised by UGC nor University of Jammu. “This university is also not the Member of Association of Indian Universities, New Delhi.” This information was received in repose to RTI application.
The records revealed that some teachers were promoted as masters on B.Ed degrees from PRIST University, Tamil Nadu, MDV Rohtak University, Maghad University, Kota Raja University, Rajasthan, Ruhlekhand University, Gulburga University, Gujarat, HSS Paryog University, Gurukul Mathra University, BSP University, UP and Jamia Urdu Aligarh
