A Single Judge Bench of Allahabad High Court has granted stay to a Teacher of Government School, who was terminated on account of having fake Degree.
Vijay Narain Tripathi, a teacher of Government School, had passed the B.Ed. examination in the session 2004-05 from Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Agra and joined the services on the basis of the said degree and was appointed on 31.12.2010 and since then he was working.
In a Public Interest Litigation No. 2906 of 2013 (Sunil Kumar Vs.Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University and another) a controversy with regard to B.Ed. mark-sheets of the year 2004-05 of the University came up for consideration. The High Court directed an investigation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT). The SIT submitted its report on 14.08.2017 holding that there were more than 3500 fake mark-sheets and about 1000 tampered mark-sheets.
On the basis of the report of the SIT, the District Basic Education Officer issued a show-cause notice to the petitioner and after that his services were terminated by means of an order dated 16.5.2020 only on the ground that the mark-sheet and the degree issued was fake and void.
The Petitioner took shelter of the Order dated 31.07.2020 passed in Special Appeal Defective No.240 of 2020, wherein a Division Bench of Allahabad High Court considering the fact that the petitioner(s)/appellants were working as Assistant Teachers for more than a decade and the tampering of the mark-sheets may not be attributed solely to the candidates without the connivance of the authorities concerned, the Court opined that as the petitioner(s)/appellants are likely to be visited with serious civil con equences including orders of recovery which may be passed against them, it would be appropriate in the interest of justice to protect their interests by directing for maintenance of status quo and also directing that the effect and operation of the impugned judgment and order of the learned Single Judge in so far as it relates to the affirmation of cancellation of appointments of the petitioner(s)/appellants, would remain in abeyance in the meanwhile.
Justice Pankaj Bhatia, following the interim order dated 31.07.2020 passed by the Division Bench in Special Appeal Defective No.240 of 2020 granted interim relief to the Petitioner, to the effect that the operation and effect of the order dated 16.5.2020 shall remain stayed and the petitioner shall continue to serve and shall be paid the salary on the post on which the petitioner was appointed during the pendency of the present writ petition.
