HC upholds CAT orders

Tribune News Service

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Chandigarh, November 27

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has upheld the decision of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which had quashed the termination orders of TGT and JBT issued by the Administration in view of an alleged recruitment scam.

Only those teachers whose name surfaced in FIR have not received relief from the Bench.

The order was pronounced by the Bench of Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Harinder Singh Sidhu. The teachers against whom FIR was not registered were represented, among others, by senior counsel DS Patwalia.

The Administration had issued the termination orders on May 30, 2018, after accepting a high-level committee’s recommendations for terminating their services in view of the alleged scam. The CAT had stayed the termination orders the very next day. Later, the CAT had set aside the orders terming these “illegal, arbitrary, and violative” of Articles 14, 16, 21, and 311 of the Constitution, besides the principles of natural justice”.

The CAT order stated that all selected candidates were fired as tainted and not given a chance to prove their innocence. The tribunal said if a few people used an illegal way to get job, which was not known to others, the entire lot could not be penalised.

The Administration formed a committee of senior officers to examine the status report used in the FIR on July 29, 2016, to suggest the further course of action.

The committee suggested two alternatives. First, to end the services of 43 of the 49 candidates, whose names were in the status report .The second choice was to cancel the selections, terminate the teachers and hold a fresh test for all applicants.

The competent authority considered and accepted the second option that since the paper was leaked, the services should be terminated and a fresh test conducted.