13 Wardha teachers and staff face inquiry into appointments, hearings from October

The state Education Department is already in the spotlight over the Shalarth ID case. The matter has now reached Wardha district, where the appointments of 13 teachers and non-teaching staff are to be examined. The development has once again stirred the education sector.

The Shalarth ID case was earlier being probed by an SIT. During that probe, the records of more than 300 teachers and non-teaching staff in Wardha district were examined, with documents of employees appointed after 2014 scrutinised in particular. Attention is now on appointments for which the file relating to individual approval and Shalarth ID is not available.

In the Nagpur division, the appointments of 1,397 such teachers and non-teaching staff are to be examined. They include 10 teachers and non-teaching staff from the secondary section and 3 from the primary section in Wardha district. Notices are reportedly being sent to those concerned.

The hearings will be conducted by Shivling Patve, chairman of the Nagpur Divisional Board of Education. They are likely to begin in the second week of October.

Patve said, "The appointments of 1,397 teachers and non-teaching staff whose individual approval and Shalarth ID files are not available will be examined. Thirteen teachers and non-teaching staff from Wardha district are among them, and the process of sending notices is on. Hearings will begin from the second week of October."

For now, the names of the 13 and the schools and institutions where they work have been kept confidential. The officials concerned have also not given clear information on this.

It must also be borne in mind that until the inquiry is complete and a final decision is taken on the appointments, any allegation or suspicion against these employees cannot be taken as proven. The education sector is now watching what emerges from the hearings.