[ Amar Sangno ]
ITANAGAR, 8 Jul: When the whole of humanity was busy fighting for survival, the state education department was issuing illegal appointment orders and regularisation letters secretly to scores of teachers, including trained graduate teachers (TGT), primary teachers (PRT), upper division clerks (UDC), lower division clerks (LDC), and multitasking staffs (MTS) during the trying time of Covid-19 pandemic.
More skeletons of dubious appointment of TGTs, PRTs, UDCs, LDCs and MTSs are tumbling out of the department’s closet, with sordid details exposing rampant illegal appointments and taking the shape of one of the biggest job scams in the history of any state government department.
When the state has barely recovered from the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission paper leak scam, the education department is courting what appears to be one of the biggest cash-for-job scams.
The Arunachal Times has learnt that there are 78 cases of suspicious appointments and arbitrary regularisation in Changlang district alone.
Among the 78 appointees are 5 TGTs, 29 PRTs, 8 UDCs, 13 LDCs, and 23 MTSs.
Sources in the education department informed that there are a greater number of similar illegal appointments in the department in different districts of the state.
The rampant appointments were made after the DPC meeting held on 28 September, 2020. Apparently, the perpetrator(s) had systematically planned the timing, particularly during the post-Covid pandemic period, to issue illegal appointment orders, choosing most of the eastern Arunachal districts.
The dubious appointments have not only undermined the Arunachal Pradesh Staff Selection Board, but have also violated all laid down norms of service seniority guidelines and the departmental promotion committee (DPC) in an arbitrary manner.
Official sources in Changlang confirmed that none of the 78 posts were advertised, nor any examination or DPC meeting held before appointing or promoting them.
They informed that all the appointments were made hastily, in violation of the recruitment rules and without adhering to the seniority list.
In one instance, a man was appointed as an MTS on 8 November, 2017 to replace a retired MTS. However, in the second appointment order, he was regularised from skilled contingency to MTS on 25 February, 2021, suggesting that the retired MTS retired on two separate occasions.
Similar gross instance surfaced in the UDC appointments, in which two separate appointment orders against two separate newly created posts were issued.
Among the ISSE teachers who have been regularised, some are from 2014, whereas, as per the DPC record, the last batch which had been regularised was not beyond 2005 and all teachers of the 2006 batch onwards are yet to be regularised. In four cases, three contractual PRTs and one contractual TGT were recruited within the district itself, violating both the SSA and the seniority list.
Sensing gross irregularities in the department, the All Tangsa Students’ Union (ATSU), the Miao Singpho Ramma Hpung and the All Muklom Students’ Union had earlier raised the issue, seeking the authority’s intervention.
On Friday, the ATSU’s fact-finding committee chairman on illegal appointment of teachers and other staffers in Changlang withdrew the union’s complaint, stating that “the government is doing its best to unearth the realities in this case.”
It is further reported that in Anjaw district, there are seven illegally appointed PRTs who were reportedly transferred from Longding district. The All Mishmi Students’ Union (AMSU) had alerted the education commissioner about it on 2 May, and had urged the commissioner to look into the matter.
The AMSU also sent a reminder to the commissioner on 26 June. The union has expressed displeasure at the higher authority for ignoring the issue.
This daily has learnt that the Changlang deputy commissioner submitted detailed reports on rampant illegal appointments to the education commissioner on Saturday. Commissioner Amjad Tak has confirmed that he has received the report.
The state government on Thursday gave approval to the vigilance department’s Special Investigation Cell (SIC) to probe into rampant illegal appointments in the education department.
The SIC has reportedly registered a regular case to investigate the whole episode.
