RASULPUR (JAJPUR): A government primary school teacher, who has been receiving a trained teacher salary for the last 20 years, was retrograded to the untrained scale of pay after alleged discrepancies were detected in documents submitted by him.
Not only has the teacher, Prasant Kumar Sar been retrograded but steps have also been initiated by Rasulpur block education officer Sreecharan Mallick to recover the entire excess salary he had received as a trained teacher during the last 20 years.
Sar had joined as an untrained assistant teacher at Balipatana Upper Primary school under a rehabilitation scheme by the then DI of School, Jajpur-II after the death of his father in 1992. The DI of School allowed Sar to avail trained scale of pay with effect from December 23, 2000, after the latter produced a Sikshya Bisarad Certificate (SBC) from Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, Allahabad which he stated is equivalent to the certified teacher (CT) examination certificate.
The National Crime Investigation Bureau, Social Crime Division of Jajpur, however, contended that the document produced by Sar is not equivalent to a CT certificate, the examination of which is conducted by the Board of Secondary Education, Odisha and the matter was brought to the notice of the Director of Elementary Education.
Based on the complaint, the Director instructed the Jajpur district education officer (DEO) Ranjan Kumar Giri to inquire into the matter and furnish a detailed report and take steps as deemed proper. Giri asked Mallick to conduct an inquiry into the allegation.
During the investigation, the BEO found that the SBC certificate produced by Sar is not equivalent to the CT examination certificate. The inquiry report revealed that Sar is not entitled to draw the trained scale of pay.
Mallick then released an untrained scale of salary for Sar instead of a trained teacher scale of pay from July this year. The BEO also directed the teacher to refund the entire excess amount drawn as salary from the date of receiving the trained scale of pay.
Giri said, “As the first step we have reverted the teacher from trained to untrained. We are calculating the excess amount he received in the last 20 years. We will recover the excess amount he received during the period.”At present, Sar is serving as an assistant teacher in Durgapur Upper Primary School in Rasulpur block.