Cracking fraud case in Edn Dept : Rs 74 Cr recovered Retired teachers with fudged designations nailed

Imphal, February 13 : With the Assembly instituting a House Committee to probe the report that a number of teachers at the time of retirement had fudged their designations as Head Master-in-charge and hence drew a larger arrear and pension, the Government has been able to recover Rs 74 crores from the frauds till date.

Following an expose' published by The Sangai Express some years back, the report had rocked the Assembly prompting it to constitute a House Committee to probe the matter further and number of employees in the Education (S) Department were suspended from service for their complicity in the case.

Following a report from the Accountant General that a huge amount of money has been withdrawn by retired teachers, the Vigilance Department had also taken up a case.

The money was withdrawn without the concurrence of the Finance Department by the retired teachers by fudging their designations as pensions and arrears on a much higher pay scale.

The Rs 74 crore has been recovered from the frauds after the AG furnished their names to the Finance Department and suggested deductions from their pensions monthly.

A reliable source said that the pension of a number of retired employees of the Education Department has been put hold following detection of certain discrepancies.

Significantly the number of pensioners of the State Government is 34,497 while the number of employees set for retirement in 2008-09 is 1794, 1838 in 2009-10, 1812 in 2010-11, 2116 in 2011-12 and 2268 in 2012-13 .

On the other hand it has come to light that the Government has no fund to pay the salaries of teachers for the month of January and February as the same has been paid to adhoc employees of the Education Department posted in the valley areas.

Interestingly all the adhoc employees have been terminated from service.

Till date the Government has released salaries for 50 pc of the adhoc employees in the hills while 25 pc have been released in the valley areas.

There is still fund to release the salaries of teachers posted in the hills, while there is none for the teachers in the valley areas.

To make up for the fund deficit in the valley areas, the Finance Department has submitted a revised estimate.

Manipur Teachers threaten to shun exams

Imphal, Feb 12 : The teachers of all government higher secondary schools today issued an ultimatum to Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh to revoke suspension orders against the eight teachers or face boycott of three important upcoming examinations.

“We demand that the government revoke the suspension orders by February 20. If the government fails to reinstate the teachers, we will boycott the forthcoming school examinations,” the spokesman for the All Government Higher Secondary Lecturers’ Welfare Association, N. Devendra Singh, told the media today.

The Ibobi Singh government suspended eight teachers, including six principals, last month on charges of preventing the students from participating in the Republic Day celebrations. 

Of the eight teachers, police arrested seven.

The court of the chief judicial magistrate, Imphal, M. Padmeshore Singh, released the teachers on bail on January 30. 

The teachers’ threat came a day after the students of higher secondary schools began an agitation yesterday demanding immediate revocation of the suspension orders. 

The students of six government higher secondary schools today held a sit-in at C.C. Higher Secondary School in Imphal East today.

“The teachers faced serious threats and they highlighted their plight. Taking action against the teachers instead of considering the threat perception is nothing but victimisation of the teachers who faced threats of physical harm,” Devendra Singh said. 

A general body meeting of the association yesterday reviewed the situation. 

“We do not blame the chief minister and the education minister. The suspension orders were issued following false information provided by the education director and joint director Th. Iboyaima,” Devendra Singh said.

The teachers said they would wait for the government’s response till February 20. “If the government does not revoke the suspension orders by the deadline, the general body of our association will meet the next day. It will take a final decision on boycott of the examinations,” Devendra Singh said. 

Final examinations of Classes XI, XII and matriculation examinations will start simultaneously from February 27. “If the situation prevails, it will affect the performances of the students,” Devendra Singh said.