HC restores approval and Shalarth IDs of three teachers from Nashik; cites flaws in notice & hearing process

Nashik: The Bombay high court has restored the approvals and Shalarth IDs of three teachers from Nashik district while holding that they shall be entitled to their salaries as they have been working without a break in service. The education department, on Jan 23, cancelled the approvals and Shalarth IDs, based on show-cause notices and the hearing process, which was challenged by the teachers before the HC.A division bench of justices Ravindra V Ghuge and Abhay J Mantri, while partly allowing the petitions on March 27, cited flaws in the show-cause notices and the hearing process that resulted in the cancellation of the approvals and Shalarth IDs."The court questioned the manner in which hearings were conducted where 150 employees were summoned on a single day to provide written submissions in a "prescribed format" only. Besides, the petitioners had no idea as to what was the show-cause notice issued for as there was no fraud or illegality alleged against them," advocate Praniti Hingmire, representing the petitioners, told TOI on Friday.The deputy director of education for Nashik region, Sanjaykumar Rathod said, "We will abide by the orders issued by the HC. As of now, I have not come across it but the orders will be complied to."Shalarth IDs are the unique identities assigned to teachers and staff in govt and aided schools for managing employee record, processing salaries and related things. A centralised Sharad ID portal manages payroll, personnel data, and service records.The teachers, Hemant Baliram Deore, Sangita Motiram Patil and Nilesh Mohan Koli, had been serving for over a decade. While Deore and Patil were appointed in Oct 2012, Koli was appointed in June 2013. They progressed from unaided to aided posts, receiving official approvals and their Shalarth IDs between 2013 and 2020.The education department justified cancellation of approval of the three teachers for reasons like the school managements concerned did not follow the roster reservation or did not seek prior permission from the education authority or the teacher had not cleared the teachers eligibility test (TET), among others. The bench said, "A glance at the impugned (under challenge) order gives us a prima facie view that the reasons mentioned for cancellation of approval, actually turn upon the conduct of the management."The HC noted, "What has happened is that the nominated authority has not uttered a word against such a management. The resultant effect of cancellation of the approval and Shalarth-ID, is like a death knell to the employees who are not at fault. They are likely to lose their employment due to purported irregularities committed by the management. We, therefore, conclude that the irregularities were condonable.""If the reservation roster was not followed, the management can be mandated to fill-up the backlog of reservation in future appointments. If advertisements were not published in widely circulated/approved newspapers by the State, if permission of the education department was not taken, the constituted authority can contemplate imposing heavy costs on the management, subject to an opportunity of hearing to such Managements," the HC said.The bench, however, said, "Since, the notices are also held to be unsustainable, if the authorities desire to conduct a proper hearing in these matters, they are at liberty to issue appropriate show cause notices afresh, mentioning the specific grounds in each case of the teachers or management, as being grounds only towards indicating fraud or misrepresentation. ""But, unless a fraud or misrepresentation is noticed and the teachers can be held to be parties to such acts, the approval orders of the Petitioners shall not be questioned," the HC said while citing the law laid down in a couple of previous high court rulings.