In a hard-hitting judgment, the Madras High Court on Monday came down heavily on a majority of government schoolteachers for being “indisciplined” and not showing interest in grooming the students.
It ordered for verification of movable and immovable assets owned by the teaching and non-teaching staff of government as well as aided schools.
Justice S.M. Subramaniam also directed the government to ensure that merit-cum-seniority was fixed as the criteria for granting promotions to teachers instead of harping on seniority alone.
The judge further insisted upon quick implementation of Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) for the teaching as well as non-teaching staff.
The judgment was passed while disposing of a writ petition filed government schoolteacher R. Annal challenging the implementation of AEBAS across the State.
She argued that AEBAS was against the Supreme Court’s verdict in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy’s case which had restricted the purposes for which Aadhaar can be insisted upon.
Bound by rules
Rejecting her contention, Justice Subramaniam said, the Supreme Court’s verdict need not be applied to public servants who were bound by a contract and had to comply with rules and regulations enforced by the State government from time to time. He lamented that a teacher, expected to impart discipline among students, had chosen to file such a writ petition.
Frequent complaints
“Growing indiscipline among public servants has necessitated the government to introduce such technology... It has been forced to implement AEBAS in view of frequent complaints of teachers not attending the school in time and leaving the school before school hours and involving in activities unconnected with their profession,” the judge said.
If a public servant was not willing to obtain Aadhaar card and adhere to the new attendance system, then such a servant would have to exercise the choice of leaving the service, he said. He also took the case as an opportunity to issue other directions such as a probe by Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption into assets owned by government teachers.
Noting that private schoolteachers drawing a meagre salary were performing much better than government schoolteachers so much so that the latter themselves admit their children only in private schools, the judge said. The State was also equally responsible for the apathy since it had failed to initiate stringent action against such teachers, he added.