‘Verify details of property owned by govt teachers’

Disposing of a plea moved by a teacher challenging the implementation of Aadhaar-enabled biometric attendance system for teachers at government and government-aided schools, Justice SM Subramaniam said the verification should be done based on the declaration made by the employees in the Service Records and added that suitable action should be taken through the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) and under Discipline and Appeal Rules if any discrepancies were found.

“Even the higher officials of the Education Department are to be scanned frequently by DVAC since there is a growing trend of corruption amongst the higher authorities in Education Department,” the judge added.

Also, to improve their efficiency, Justice Subramaniam has directed the department secretary and Director of School Education to consider amending the promotion rules to provide merit-cum-seniority assessment system for both Government and aided school teachers.

Noting that the assessment of performance and merit in teaching and work performances must be the criteria for granting promotions, Justice Subramaniam said: “It must be merit cum seniority and should never be seniority alone. Unless such drastic measures are taken by the government, it may not be possible to provide better education to children studying in government schools.”

Despite spending huge amounts for the development of government schools, people have neither trust nor respect for these institutions, Justice Subramaniam said. “If such an opinion against government schools is allowed to continue, then the State is also failing in its duty to implement the Constitutional perspectives.”

He acknowledged that there may be an opinion that the court was deviating from the issue raised in the writ petition (linking Aadhaar with the bio-metric attendance system), but pointed out that judges were bound to look in and around the society. “In the event of noticing either the unconstitutionality or illegality of developmental activities, then duty mandates the Constitutional courts to initiate appropriate action for either eradicating or declaring such activities as unconstitutional,”he said.