Dimapur, June 10 (MExN): Responding to the complaints and call for agitation from teachers of Niuland over their salaries not being released, the government today issued a statement explaining the reason the DIS of Niuland was put to the situation. A Special Investigations Team has been probing for ‘bogus appointment’ of teachers for some time now and salaries of teachers were withheld following the government’s move.
More than two hundred cases under DIS Niuland are found to be ‘doubtful’ while seven cases have been found to be ‘forged’, the School Department today said. The salaries of teachers who were found to be genuine would be released.
The School department today clarified to the public that DIS Niuland has 978 teachers, according to records submitted by the DIS. Out of the number, 570 teachers were recorded to have been transferred from DIS Dimapur when DIS Niuland was created in 2006. “The balance of 408 teachers are reported as having been appointed or posted after the bifurcation and from the period 1st January 2007 onwards” stated the clarification from the School Education department.
‘The salary of the 570 teachers have been released as they were already in service before the period under investigation by the Special Investigation Team’, the department said. Here the government pointed out that “The agitation is therefore being taken up by the second category of 408 teachers.”
For this second group of 408 teachers, the School Education department said, verifications have been completed. It was found that there were 39 genuine cases, 228 are “doubtful cases,” and 13 cases whose documents were not found in the list submitted by the DIS. In regard to appointments made against ‘old-post creation,’ the department said there are 79 cases appointed by the department while 7 cases were found to have been ‘forged.’
Then there were 42 cases found to have no documents or records, the department said.
“It is apparent from the findings of the verification conducted that there are clear instances of doubtful, bogus appointments and of teachers holding forged documents; the government has no option but to withhold the salaries until the investigation by the SIT is completed and such bogus teachers are weeded out,” the department said.
In regard to the 79 cases of appointments made against ‘old post creation,’ the School Education department said a uniform policy has been adopted throughout the state not to release salaries of such appointees till the ‘post-vacancies’ are authenticated. As this move applies to all such categories of teachers throughout the entire state, it is not possible to release their salaries till the investigations are complete, the department said.
In a related matter, the department informed that the government has decided to extend the scope of the SIT of the Vigilance Commission. It is to cover appointments made since January 2002 in general and any other specific dubious cases of appointments made prior to 2002.
