CHENNAI: Expressing discontentment over the Adi Dravidar Welfare (ADW) department issuing transfer orders to teachers prior to the conduct of counselling sessions, and allegedly without due procedure, members of the Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Teachers-Warden Federation sought an inquiry by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), which, as per their demand, should probe into the transfers and promotions granted over the past two years by the ADW department.
According to the federation, the department issued over 30 transfer orders prior to the counselling scheduled for the current academic year. The government order for conducting the transfer counselling was issued in October 2022, however, it could not be conducted in the middle of an academic year.
“As per the GO issued on June 26, a proposal was sent to the government on June 8 to implement the last year’s order. However, transfer orders were issued to a few teachers prior to the scheduled counselling due to administrative reasons till the first week of June,” said G Vivek, a member of the federation. He questioned the sudden hurry to issue transfer orders when the counselling has been due for over a year.
It is to be noted that the federation has been demanding transparency in the transfers and promotions of teachers and hostel employees within the department. In March 2022, the Tiruchy Adi Dravidar welfare officer was arrested on graft charges. The SC and ST employees’ association had also sought DVAC probe into the corruption charges plaguing the department then.
Earlier in 2011, eyebrows were raised also when the authority to transfer teachers in the department was given to an assistant engineer attached to the director’s office. Recalling an instance of surprise transfer, A Ponnarisi of Madurai says she was transferred from Madurai and posted to a school in Virudhunagar, and then to Theni, due to surplus number of teachers, in 2021.
“The unanticipated transfer has taken a toll on me as I have to now commute about 160 km, every day, for work. Even though there was a vacancy in the school I was working in Madurai, the several applications I submitted requesting transfer fell on deaf ears; another person was given the transfer,” Ponnarisi said.
ADW department director T Anand said transfers are issued due to administrative reasons, underlying that it is the “prerogative of the directorate.”