High Court sets four-month deadline for streamlining teachers’ transfers

Saurabh Malik

Chandigarh, May 12

Just about six months after the Punjab and Haryana High Court asserted that the teachers’ transfer drive was apparently being carried out at the whims and fancies of the authorities concerned without taking into consideration the students’ paramount interests, the Bench has set four-month deadline for the streamlining the process.

The Bench also made it clear that the petitioners (teachers) will not be transferred till the completion of the next transfer drive. Justice Harnaresh Singh Gill asserted that the Haryana Director Secondary Education was in the process of streamlining the transfer drive. As a part of the process, directions had been issued to the authorities concerned at the school, and the district level to remove all errors after taking into consideration the strength of the students.

Disproportionate number of teachers

A perusal of a table shows that in as many as eight schools, disproportionate number of subject teachers is available against the total number of students. In some of the said schools, three teachers each have been posted against no students. —Justice Harnaresh Singh Gill

The state counsel, during the course of hearing, drew the court’s attention to a communication dated May 5, wherein it was specifically stated that further steps were being taken to rectify the earlier flaws in view of the issues faced by the department during earlier drive. Sufficient time had been given to the employees and the authorities for updation and correction in their personal and service profile data to ensure more transparency in the drive.

Justice Gill, on a previous date of hearing, asserted it was beyond common comprehension as to how the authorities concerned went into “such a deep slumber” and preferred posting disproportionate number of teachers at schools, where the number of subject students was either nil or minimal. On the other hand, subject teachers were not posted in institutes with “quite a healthy” strength of students.

The assertions came after Justice Gill went through a petition filed by Uttam and another petitioner challenging transfer and other orders. Their counsel submitted that the transfer drive had “various flaws” with disproportionate representation of teachers in comparison with the students in more than a few schools.