Bihar: 33 teachers dismissed from service over appointment irregularities in Gopalganj

Gopalganj (Bihar) [India], March 22 (ANI): Thirty-three teachers in Bihar’s Gopalganj district have been dismissed from service after the High Court upheld the State Appellate Authority’s decision regarding their irregular appointments, said an official on Saturday.

The teachers were appointed to positions that had not been officially declared vacant after the previous occupants either resigned or passed away.

According to District Education Officer (DEO) Yogesh Kumar, some teaching positions where the original incumbents had either died or resigned after 2010 were not formally declared vacant. However, the District Appellate Authority later declared these seats vacant and facilitated the appointment of the 33 teachers.

“After 2010, some seats of which the presiding teachers had either died or resigned had not been declared vacant. However, the District Appellate Authority declared these seats vacant and appointed these (33) teachers to those seats. Against this order, we went to the State Appellate Authority, which ordered that these teachers be relieved from service and the amount given in their salary head be recovered. These teachers went to the High Court against the order of the State Appellate Authority. However, the High Court has also ruled in our favour,” DEO Kumar told ANI.

Challenging this move, the district education authorities took the matter to the State Appellate Authority, which ruled against the appointments and ordered the dismissal of these teachers.

The authority also directed that salaries paid to them be recovered. Subsequently, the affected teachers approached the High Court, but the court ruled in favour of the State Appellate Authority, paving the way for their dismissal.