Recruitment scam: Illegally appointed teachers were in service for years

One of them has been employed since 2012-13

The illegally recruited teachers, it has turned out, have been in service for years — in one instance, for a decade — before the controversy came out in the open. File photo for representation only | Photo Credit: Murali Kumar K

As the Department of School Education and Literacy suspended K.S. Prasad, First Division Clerk (FDA) of the Bengaluru division Deputy Director’s office on Monday, after he was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in connection with the high school teachers’ recruitment scam, more skeletons have started to tumble out of the closet.

The illegally recruited teachers, it has turned out, have been in service for years — in one instance, for a decade — before the controversy came out in the open.

Prasad is the prime accused in the scam and the CID arrested him on September 6. Before him, 12 accused teachers were arrested on the same day. Department sources said three more such cases have also come to light on Tuesday and inquiry is on.

How it happened

The department had issued the notification for recruitment of Assistant Teacher Grade-2 and Physical Education Teacher Grade-1 for Government High Schools for the academic year 2012-13 and completed the recruitment process.

The department then issued the notification for recruitment of Assistant Teacher Grade-2 and Physical Education Teacher Grade-1 for the academic year of 2014-15 and called for applications twice. However, in this recruitment process, the department had allegedly issued appointment orders for 12 members illegally.

Among the 12, some candidates’ names were not in the selection list. Some people who got low marks in the recruitment examination also got appointed. This included some candidates who had never applied for the teacher’s posts, but got appointed by creating forged documents.

Two with same name

In the 2012-13 academic year too, Mahesh Susaladi got appointed illegally without any application. According to sources, in that particular recruitment process, a candidate by name Mahesh Savadi was selected for the post of ‘English Language Assistant Teacher Grade-2’ for high school. However, he rejected the post and it remained vacant. With the help of some department officials, Mahesh Susaladi created fake documents and used the application number of Mahesh Savadi and got the job.

Recently, the department got some complaints from the public about illegal appointment of teachers to Government High Schools and conducted a departmental inquiry. The inquiry officers found out the difference in the documents submitted to the ‘Centralised Enrolment Unit’ and DDPI office in the district level by the candidates.

V. Srinivasmurthy, Under Secretary of the Department of School Education and Literacy, lodged a complaint against the accused teachers in Vidhana Soudha police station and the government has entrusted this case to the CID.

The CID arrested 12 teachers and conducted an inquiry. On the basis of their statements, the CID arrested the prime accused Prasad.