[Amar Sangno]
ITANAGAR, 13 Jan: The education department has served show cause notice to hundreds of block education officers (BEO) who were appointed in 2024, following the recommendation of a five-member committee to review their appointment.
The committee was constituted on 4 September,2024. It was headed by Political Secretary Ragphoa Ngowa, with Education Secretary Duly Kamduk, Administrative Reforms Joint Secretary Mari Angu, School Education Director Marken Kadu, and Education Undersecretary Khumkon Mossang as members.
The committee examined the appointment of hundreds of trained graduate teachers (TGT) as BEOsin 2024, and it recommended to the department to review the appointment of all the BEOs appointed in 2024 by convening a regular Departmental Promotion Committee meeting as per the recruitment rules (RR).
It further observed gross anomalies and non-adherence to the 2017 RR for BEOs. In one instance,a teacher from Longding district, who voluntarily retired in the year 2018, was also appointed as a BEO.
The 2017 RR says: “In case of recruitment by promotion or regularisation, promotion is to be made from the post(s) of trained graduate teacher (non-gazetted) who have completed 10 years of regular service in the grade, with a master’s degree from a recognised university and a BEd or diploma in elementary education or an equivalent qualification from a recognised institute.”
The committee categorised the BEOs’ appointment into five categories. Category 1 consists of teachers who qualified under the 2017 RR. Among them, 44 TGTs qualified as BEOs as per the 2017 RR.
It further observed that 10 BEOs don’t have the requisite education qualification, whereas 41 BEOs do not have the requisite service length as well as educational qualification, and four BEOs do not have required service length, though they have the requisite educational qualification.
The committee had been instructed to focus on the appointments made during January and February 2024, assessing the adherence to procedures and compliance with relevant regulations and directives. The board members had their sitting on 1 November,2024, for its final meeting, in continuation of the earlier meetings, from 16 September, 2024 onwards, to scrutinise the list of all the TGTs and BEOs and other details of these departmental candidates.
The objective of the committee was to review the appointment process for converting TGTs to BEOs; to assess compliance of the appointment with relevant orders and court directives, particularly those stemming from WP(C) No 596/2018 and WP(C) 447(AP) 2015; and to identify any procedural discrepancies or irregularities in the appointment process, and also to provide recommendations for improving the process to ensure transparency, compliance, and efficiency.
Sources in the education department informed that all the BEOs appointed in 2024 have been served show cause notice, seeking their explanation.
“We have served show cause notice to all the BEOs as per the report of the committee, and sought their explanation. If their explanations are not satisfactory, we will review their appointment as per the committee recommendation,” said an official who did not wish to be named.
Apparently, the appointment of BEOs in 2024 is another major anomaly that has surfaced in the education department after the biggest illegal appointment scam involving PRTs, TGTs, LDCs, UDCs and MTS’ in 2020, in violation of the Arunachal Pradesh Staff Selection Board Recruitment Rules, 2018.
The education department recently issued termination letters to 255 illegal appointees.
