PSEB made headlines for wrong reasons

Kulwinder Sangha

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Mohali, December 27

The Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) remained in the news during the year for various reasons, including the alleged misappropriation of funds relating to the salary accounts of employees and the compulsory retirement of a senior legal adviser who was under suspension.

There were reports of alleged misappropriation of more than Rs 2 crore from the salary accounts of employees of the board. After a special inquiry report was submitted, 10 officials and employees were suspended by the authorities concerned and show-cause notices were served on several others.

However, the probe report, which covered the period from 2008 to 2014, had recommended action against 29 persons. It had also named certain officials against whom action was recommended. Somehow, the board did not bring the others named in the report to book.

On July 17, the board authorities ordered the compulsory retirement of its senior legal adviser, Sukhwinder Kaur Saroya. She had been under suspension since 2011.

The board, which had made the relevant inquiry report the basis of its action against Saroya, said there were certain allegations against her which necessitated the action.

Another aspect of the board’s activities that drew attention was the printing of a secret bar code on answer sheets and preparation of the exam results of Classes X and XII. The work had been allotted to only one firm. It had earlier been planned to give this to different companies to ensure secrecy.

On June 22, the board had dismissed from service a former board Chairman’s daughter-in-law and four district managers in connection with alleged irregularities. However, on June 30 the Punjab and Haryana High Court gave a stay in the matter.

There was also a controversy over the purchase of paper by the board for the printing of textbooks from a private firm instead of a government agency.

Reports also surfaced about the alleged leak of the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) question paper. However, it was found that it was merely a rumour and a case was registered against a person running a coaching centre at Rampura Phul.

The results of the TET, which were declared by the board recently, showed a very low pass percentage.

Education Minister Daljit Singh Cheema had expressed concern over the poor performance of the examinees.