In a significant ruling, the Odisha High Court has restrained the State Government from closing down the State Institute of Educational Technology (SIET), an educational technology programme functioning under the School and Mass Education department.
Adjudicating a writ petition filed by some employees of the SIET, a Division Bench of the High Court comprising Justices MM Das and BK Misra in its order passed this week has directed that in case the State is proposing to close down the SIET, the proposal would not be
implemented without the leave of the High Court.
Also giving a much-needed relief to the employees of the SIET, who fear of losing their jobs, the HC also restrained the State Government from taking any step to disengage them from services without the permission of the court.
“If the petitioners are continuing under the SIET in their services, they shall not be disengaged without the leave of this court and their salary shall be paid to them regularly during the pendency of this writ petition,” the HC order said.
It may be mentioned here that the SIET, the erstwhile Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE), was established in Odisha and five other States by the Union Ministry of Education in 1983 for promoting alternative approaches to education to children, youth and adults.
Funded exclusively by the Central Government, the SIET was converted into an autonomous body in 1990 and, subsequently, the employees of SIET were considered as State Government employees. While the State Government made provisions of funds for the running of SIET, the Central Government in 2002 asked the State Government to also bear the salary component of the employees.
It was only after 2003 that maladministration in SIET cropped in and soon the State Government created a faction among its employees and suggested downsizing of the SIET. “While a few handpicked employees were treated as ‘deputed’ staff, as many as 22 employees out of a total of 51 were threatened to be disengaged,” said one of the petitioners.
While in March 2012, the State Government passed a resolution to absorb the deputed staff and gave an option to 48 of the 51 staff to revert back to the State Government, almost a year after in April this year the Government issued another notice stating “Pursuant to closure of SIET, 22 employees of it will be disengaged with effect from April 29, 2013.”
Protesting against this order, the employees resorted to dharna and demonstration in front of the office of the SIET and then moved the High Court for relief.