On the complaint regarding irregularities in appointment in the aided private secondary schools in Pauri district, Director of Education Uttarakhand and District Magistrate have both ordered an enquiry in the appointment procedure of the lT (license in Teaching) grade and lecturer grade posts in the institutions. The Director of Education appointed additional director, Garhwal, NS Rana as departmental inquiry officer, while District Magistrate Chandresh Kumar appointed ADM Ravneet Cheema as inquiry officer.
Despite efforts to bring about transparency in the functioning of such aided schools, it is alleged that some candidates were appointed on the basis of fake documents and after paying lakhs of rupees in bribe to the appointment authority.
Cheema has started the inquiry and instructed the chief education officer to submit all documents related to the appointment procedure. On the other side Additional Director Rana said that the CEO has not produced any documents relating to the appointments so the inquiry has not been started.
Appointments were made on about 70 vacant positions in different subjects for lT and lecturers by 25 aided schools after the approval of the department. According the chief district education officer lM Chamola, out of the received applications for the lT grade and lecturer posts, the top seven candidates were selected on the basis of the marks obtained in different fields- academic, sports, teaching experience and others and called for interview. Chamola affirmed that it was the duty of the institutions concerned to verify all documents attached with the application. He said that following complaints, the department had verified the documents of some candidates but found these to be authentic. All the documents with the application forms of the appointed candidates have been submitted to inquiry officer ADM, he added.
It is pertinent to mention here that private educational institutions have been the focus of controversy for candidates allegedly having to pay bribes to secure appointment in teaching positions. According to sources, it has been alleged that some of those appointed recently paid up to Rs 15 lakh in bribe for being appointed to teaching positions. The officials of the institutions then accepted fake documents from such candidates to appoint them. If the allegations are found true, those appointed will be sacked, inform the officials.