Doc verification rider for salary of 42,000 new teachers relaxed

The Bihar government has ordered the release salary of 42,000 newly appointed teachers working without salaries since March due to a delay in verification of their documents, said a communique issued by the education department.

The government had set a deadline of September 9, 2022, for verification of documents, but that seems far from completion. However, the newly appointed teachers working since the start of the academic session had been demanding salary in lieu of their work and some of them had also met education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, who called a highlevel meeting to review the matter.

“It emerged from the review that making teachers work without salary would not appear legitimate, especially when the candidates have submitted an affidavit in the prescribed format, clearly mentioning that all the documents are bonafide and there is no conviction in any criminal case, failing which the appointment will be automatically void,” said primary education director Ravi Prakash. Later, additional chief secretary (education) Dipak Kumar Singh also clarified that the 42,000 teachers would get all their backlog salaries and continue to get monthly salaries till March 2023, by when all the verification was expected to be completed. “There will be a review of the status of verification of documents in March for taking further decision. The teachers are also requested to get verification of their documents proactively done. The order for the release of their monthly salary has been issued,” he added.

In view of the start of the new academic session post-Covid from April 1, the government had decided not to wait till verification of all documents, as decided earlier to avoid past controversy over submission of fake certificates, and appointed them with a rider that those who got their documents verified would get a salary with immediate effect, while others would have to wait for salary till the verification exercise was completed.

The department treaded cautiously as 562 candidates were found to have submitted forged CTET/BETET certificates during counselling and legal action was initiated against them.

The recruitment of school teachers between 2006 and 2015 through panchayati raj institutions and urban local bodies had landed in the Patna high court following allegations of the use of forged documents by a large number of candidates and the probe has been on for nearly seven years now. A few thousand teachers had also resigned under the HC’s amnesty scheme, but the probe by the State Vigilance continues.

The HC, which ordered the vigilance probe into the appointment of teachers in 2015, had in the past expressed displeasure over the slow probe due to over 90,000 missing folders, following which the department asked the teachers to upload scanned copies of their certificates on the specified portal, but that process has also been slow.

The department has now clearly said that those not uploading it would be assumed to be illegal appointees and will be removed.