Director of General Education (DGE) Shanavas S. has tendered an unconditional apology to the Kerala Administrative Tribunal (KAT) in connection with higher secondary teacher transfer.
In an affidavit filed in KAT, the DGE submitted that he regretted if any misfeasance occurred on his part in not complying with the orders of the tribunal.
He was responding to a contempt petition filed by teachers in connection with a circular issued on May 4 that directed higher secondary teachers who had been relieved from their schools but not been able to join their new schools to do so immediately.
The DGE, in the affidavit, said that when the contempt petition was taken up by KAT on May 15, he appeared online and clarified that the circular was not issued with the intention of disobeying the orders of KAT or of the Kerala High Court. The circular had been cancelled as per another circular issued on May 17. The contempt petition against him, the DGE said, should be dropped in the interest of justice.
The official underlined that he had not been lethargic or negligent in complying with the directions of the tribunal, and that he submitted an unconditional apology.
The DGE had issued the circular at the beginning of May in the wake of a High Court order that transfers already implemented would not be affected by a KAT stay.
The government had brought out the final transfer list of teachers for 2023-24 even as the KAT had temporarily stayed the transfer proceedings. Teachers had been relieved from schools on its basis. However, a section of teachers had approached the tribunal, which set aside the general transfer. This put some of the teachers who had been relieved from their schools in a fix for they could not join their new schools. It was then that the High Court was approached against the tribunal order.
