Physically Challenged Candidate Alleges Irregularities
Muck thrown at primary teachers recruitment
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, October 04 2012: Alleging irregularities in the recruitment of primary teachers in physically handicapped category, physically challenged candidate Thingbaijam Subhashchandra today claimed that even answer scripts of the examination were found to have been disposed off as paper scraps before completion of the examination procedures.

Moreover, authorities concerned also failed to provide relevant information when right to information Act (RTI) was invoked through a petition, he maintained.

speaking to newspersons today, Subhashchandra said he recently filed an RTI petition to the authority of Board of Secondary Education Manipur (BOSEM) seeking to re-check his own answer script.

Informing that the Board authorities revealed that answer scripts have been sold off to some Guwahati-based firms in 2008 inspite of the examination result officially declared in 2011, he questioned on what ground the answer scripts had been disposed off before official completion of the recruitment exercise.

On top of suspicious disposal of the answer scripts many candidates who were declared as passed in Physically Handicapped category also lacked document to support claim of suffering from physical deformities, the spurned candidate claimed.

Highlighting that advertisements for recruitment of primary teachers supposed to be conducted by the Directorate of Education was published by the Employment Exchange, Imphal on September 12, 2006, Subhashchandra said the written test was conducted on December 22 the same year with the written test result declared the next year.

With the viva voce of the written test successful candidates conducted in 2009 unofficial result of the viva voce was found published by a daily newspaper in April 2010 stating that 1000 candidates have been selected on contract basis, said Subhashchandra who also noted that the then Education Minister had disapproved the unofficial result.

Opposing the unofficial result, Subhashchandra said he filed a case at Gauhati High Court based on which Judge Kataki in 2011 decreed that the contract list would be null and void.

Inspite of the court ruling, an advertisement was published in which official list of 300 more successful candidates were found to have been enlisted under OBC category over and above the same unofficial figure of 1000 successful candidates, he informed.

Contrary to the first advertisement in which there was no mention of seat reservation in the Physically Handicapped section some candidates were found to have been included in the Physically Handicapped section under OBC and ST categories.

apart from such anomalies detected in the response against the RTI petition, a similar petition to the Directorate of Education led to the revelation that some candidates who passed in the Physically Handicapped category had submitted documents provided by other institutions and not by the Social Welfare Department as was prescribed under the recruitment guidelines.

Informing that he was provided with a list of 39 candidates passing in the Physically Handicapped category, Subhashchandra said the Directorate could not produce relevant documents supporting impairment condition of about 12-13 candidates.

Ironically, names of four candidates who were declared to have passed in the unofficial list (in the local daily) were found to have been missing in the official order of recruitment even though Directorate officials provided documents citing certain physical impairment, maintained Subhashchandra who cast serious suspicion that irregularities detected in response to his RTI petition might be merely a tip of the iceberg.

Pointing out that primary teachers are suppose to play an important role in the formative period of the future generation, he strongly suggested that the present day Education Minister M Okendro should initiate appropriate measures to rectify mistakes, if any, committed by his predecessor.

Subhashchandra also asserted that he would persist with the legal course of action till justice has been delivered.

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