Seven teachers, appointed to the Delhi Tamil Education Association in 2022, were sacked by Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena on Thursday, October 5. It has been alleged that the teachers used forged documents to obtain appointments.
Saxena also approved a CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) inquiry into the matter, the Raj Niwas said in a statement. It further informed that the LG has asked for scrutiny of recruitment records at government-aided schools over the last 10 years and constituted a committee to study the appointment process in these schools, as noted in a report by PTI.
The termination order against the teachers was brought out by the LG on the recommendation of the Delhi government's Directorate of Vigilance (DoV), which found an alleged "collusion" between the Education Department and the school management in the said appointments. No immediate reaction was available from the Education Department and the concerned school management.
"The LG agreed with the proposal of the DoV, which found a prima facie collusion between the officials of the Directorate of Education and the Delhi Tamil Education Association (DTEA), where 51 candidates were appointed to various posts in the year 2022. However, it was found that 7 selected teachers for TGT and PGT posts had submitted fake experience certificates," reads Raj Niwas the statement.
"The forged experience certificate was crucial in securing the job as each year of experience gave one extra mark to the candidate. As per the terms and conditions of the Education Department, the school management was required to verify all the certificates of the selected candidates," the statement added, alleging that even the details of bank payments made by the teachers and a copy of the teachers' attendance register were not maintained by the school, violating the laid-down norms.
The CBI is already investigating a similar criminal case involving another government-aided school, namely Vedic Sanskrit Senior Secondary School, located in Delhi's Khera Garhi. Here too, teachers' appointments were made on the basis of alleged "fake" documents, as per PTI.
The committee formed by the LG to study the recruitment process in government-aided schools and suggest measures to streamline the process, will be headed by the additional chief secretary of the general administration department. It will have the special secretary (Finance) and secretary (education) as members while the director (education) will be its convener, said the statement.
