Lucknow: One teacher employed in 25 government schools at once, drawing a salary of Rs 1 crore over 13 months? It seems like a catchy plotline for the next viral con-comedy, but no one in the Uttar Pradesh basic education department is actually having a laugh.
The Uttar Pradesh government has launched an investigation into an alleged racket in its schools that saw one teacher enrolled on the roster of 25 campuses, drawing salary from each one for over a year.
The exact modus operandi of the scam is yet to be established. However, among other things, the state is believed to be probing whether one teacher’s documents were used, again and again, to get other candidates jobs at the UP government’s chain of Kasturba Gandhi schools for girls.
Contractual in nature, the job comes with a secure monthly income of Rs 22,000, besides perquisites.
The teacher at the centre of the alleged racket has been identified as one “Anamika Shukla”, who is believed to have gone underground since the government went public with details of the alleged racket Thursday. She has also been served a notice by the state government.
Speaking to the media Friday, UP’s Director General of School Education Vijay Kiran Anand said the case came to light following a few local media reports in March.
“In March 2020, a story related to this was published in the local media of some districts. We then ordered a detailed probe in this matter,” Anand added.
“We instructed officials from all the districts concerned, wherever this teacher’s deployment was reported from, to prepare a database and investigate it thoroughly,” he said.
The exact extent of the racket, he added, was exposed when a digital database of teachers was created.
“Only then did the entire matter come to light. Along with Ambedkar Nagar, Prayagraj, records of this teacher’s deployment were also found in Saharanpur, Baghpat, and Aligarh, among other districts.”
The database also revealed that 25 schools had been crediting salaries to the same bank account owned by Shukla.
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Appointed in March 2019
Anamika Shukla, a science teacher, is believed to be from Mainpuri, and the government is still trying to zero in on her original place of posting. While a salary of Rs 22,000 from 25 government schools totals Rs 71.5 lakh, a source in the state basic education department said her emoluments over the 13 months totalled Rs 1 crore.
According to the director general of school education, an FIR will be lodged against all the culprits as soon as the investigation is completed.
An education department official in Rae Bareli, Anand Prakash, said an Anamika Shukla was also present on their rolls. When they prepared a database on the state government’s orders, they discovered she had been appointed 8 March 2019.
When the Rae Bareli officials tried to contact her on her official number, Prakash added, she submitted her resignation through WhatsApp. A local-level investigation is being conducted, he said.
Salary withheld
According to sources associated with the Basic Education Department, the salary of the accused teacher has been frozen with immediate effect.
At a press conference Friday, UP Basic Education Minister Satish Dwivedi said the fraud was unearthed only after the creation of digital database. “It is a priority of the government to bring transparency through digital databases so that all such cases can be detected,” he added.
The statement came as the government decided to launch an investigation against all the teachers posted at the state’s 746 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs).Dwivedi said while the initial investigation is still underway, “some important things have surfaced in the meantime”.
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Can I find any vacancy.. Here
India’s entire rotten administration and politico- judicial system, much of the laws including some embedded in the constitution, acts and rules and rulings promulgated thereunder need the same surgery as for cancer. Lifelong Govt employment should be abolished. IAS IRS and other so called ‘civil’ services need a complete overhaul. The responsibility for much of the less than the best implementation of Demonetisation, GST, Income Tax administration despite a dynamic selfless man leading the nation is due to the entrenched civil services with lifelong perks even post retirement, Assured Promotions, Non Functional Financial Upgradation i.e promotion pay irrespective of merit but little real accountability. Transparency has to increase. Excess Govt staff has to be shed.
Lack of digitisation could explain one part of the story.
The other part is all the schools have marked her as present and taking classes raises significant curiosity in the matter.
And the felony is further compounded – what about inspections?
Was this not discovered in the school inspections??
These aspects do suggest that this incident is not a stray incident. Wonder why the other aspects of the story are not being revealed. Or is it that those aspects will be revealed only after the appropriate cover up for some has been put in place?