HYDERABAD: Taking a serious view of non-implementation of an earlier order of the court regarding the recruitment of teachers under the DSC-1998 examination, Justice P Naveen Rao of the Telangana High Court on Thursday sentenced the district educational officers (DEOs) of Karimnagar, Warangal, Khammam and Nalgonda to two months imprisonment and imposed a fine of `2,000 each in a contempt case filed by some aspiring candidates of the DSC-1998 test.
In 2009, the administrative tribunal directed the authorities to revise the merit list of the selected candidates and appoint the petitioner candidates based on merit. The high court also passed orders on the issue. When the authorities failed to implement the same, the candidates filed the present contempt case.
The court had earlier summoned the above four DEOs for negligence in implementing an earlier order of the court. The DEOs submitted that they were new to the post and were not aware of the two-decade-old case.After sentencing the DEOs, the judge on Thursday suspended the order for six weeks to enable the contemnors to file an appeal against the sentence imposed on them.
Teachers picked with records remaining after fire, says counsel
Pursuant to the court direction, on Thursday, the four DEOs appeared before Justice Naveen Rao, dealing with the contempt case alleging large-scale irregularities in the DSC-1998 exam and that the orders of the administrative tribunal and the court were deliberately not being implemented. They pointed out several discrepancies even in the revised merit list.
Special counsel of Telangana A Sanjeev Kumar, appearing for the DEOs, submitted that there were no records available in respect of Nalgonda district due to a fire accident. The selection list was prepared based on available records, he added.Not satisfied with the above submissions, the judge sentenced the four DEOs to two months imprisonment and a fine of `2,000 each, to be paid in two weeks.
During the course of an earlier hearing, the judge found that the petitioner candidates had secured better merit, there were vacancies, and a merit list was not drawn in strict compliance of the tribunal’s directions. Besides, a proper merit list has not been drawn till date. There was clear disobedience of the directions issued by the tribunal. In spite of granting sufficient time, the mistakes were not rectified. It was deliberate and willful, and thus by their conduct, they committed contempt of the orders of the high court. Prima facie, the DEOs of these four districts were held guilty of committing contempt of the court orders and are liable to be punished, the judge noted.
It may be noted that the eligibility criteria was relaxed to make selections in all districts of the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh state, selections were finalised, and appointments were made in 17 districts. For bizarre reasons, the appointments were deferred in four districts of Telangana and two districts of AP. The government’s decision to make appointments based on relaxed eligibility criteria in the remaining districts was not given effect.