5 years of Vigilance probe, but most of Munna bhai teachers still under radar

Source: hindustantimes.com

Five years on, the investigation by the State Vigilance Investigation Bureau (VIB) into large-scale suspected appointment of school teachers in Bihar on forged documents is far from over.

So far, the VIB has registered 337 FIRS involving 903 teachers across the state, of which services of 639 teachers have been terminated by the department of education, while salary has stopped for some others.

However, there are several districts like Sheohar, Siwan, Madhepura, Araria and Darbhanga, where no case has been lodged so far, while there are many other districts where the number of cases lodged or teachers removed is less than five.

The progress so far has been very slow. It could still be just the tip of the iceberg, as over 43,000 folders are still missing from the recruiting agencies and have not reached VIB. So far, over 2,600 FIRS have been lodged against recruiting agencies under the panchayati raj institutions (PRIS) due to missing folders carrying recruitment details.

Once the remaining folders, mostly related to elementary teachers, reach the VIB, the number of FIRS could increase as the reason they have gone missing smacks of some conspiracy, said an official.

The department of education had earlier issued ultimatum to its district programme officers (DPOS) to hand over folders to the VIB without any further delay, failing which their salary would be stopped. However, the things have failed to pick up due to continued indifference of the recruiting agencies.

A total of 3.62 lakh teachers, including 2,082 librarians, were appointed in Bihar between 2006 and May 2015. Of them, 3.11 lakh were elementary teachers, including 1.04 lakh Shiksha Mitras appointed for Rs 1500/ month honorarium and later elevated to the rank of Panchayat teachers. Maximum cases of forgery are said to be in the ranks of elementary teachers.

The probe was initiated by Patna High Court order on May 18, 2014, on suspicions of largescale appointment of teachers on forged documents to fudge the merit list. Te court had also given amnesty to teachers voluntarily resigning. However, just around 3,000 teachers resigned under amnesty.

The HC bench of the then chief justice L Narasimha Reddy and Justice Sudhir Singh, while ordering vigilance probe, had observed: “The extent to which the candidates with fake certificates have been appointed as teachers in the past decade is a matter of deep concern…the state government has soft-pedalled the issue for the past one decade…we direct the director general, vigilance, to immediately swing into action and verify the genuineness of certificates of the teachers who have been appointed since 2006.”

On Monday, the issue of delay was once again raised before the Patna HC bench of Justice Shivji Pandey and Justice Parth Sarthi during the hearing on the PIL. The court has directed the state government and the VIB to furnish within six weeks all details and action taken against teachers appointed on forged documents.