A petition has been filed in the Delhi High Court, asking the authorities to probe the appointment of 35 newly appointed principals of Delhi government schools based on "forged and fabricated documents".
According to the Public Interest Litigation (PIL), the 35 candidates managed to maliciously misrepresent themselves and were selected illegally, and the Delhi government's Department of Education failed miserably to scrutinise the necessary documents submitted by them, resulting in their erroneous selections.
During the hearing, the counsel for petitioner Navendu Charitable Trust sought time to implead the people against whom allegations have been levelled, reports PTI.
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula granted the petitioner's counsel the time sought and listed the matter for further hearing on October 18.
Standing counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi and lawyer Arun Panwar represented the Delhi government.
According to the plea, some of these candidates showed fraudulent Economically Weaker Section (EWS) certificates for their selection despite having an annual family income of more than Rs 8 lakh, while others took advantage of Other Backward Class (OBC) reservations and presented fake experience records.
According to the plea, the petitioner could only trace these applicants, but the scale of misrepresentation and illegal selection could be much higher.
"Due to the erroneous and wrong selection, a number of deserving candidates has been rejected, resulting in violation of Article 16 of the Constitution,” the plea.
"These candidates are on probation and withdrawing more than Rs 1.75 lakh per month salary; if they get permanent, the investigation procedure will become more complex," the appeal stated.
The plea further alleged, "Due to the scam, the actual deserving employees are suffering and unemployment is one of the utmost issues in India and amongst this, high unemployment rate this despicable fraud is happening."
According to the petition, school principals bear the greatest responsibility for the future of many students, and society would never tolerate corruption in the selection of applicants for the position.
It is the responsibility of the Delhi government's education department to verify all of the records submitted by the candidates selected, but it has failed to do so, and as a result of this carelessness and irresponsibility, these 35 and other misrepresented candidates have been selected for the position of principal, as per the plea.
It urged the Delhi government to probe the selection of these applicants before the probation term expired and to hold an impartial investigation.
