Edu official oversteps HC, may face contempt of court

TURA: The West Garo Hills District School Education Officer could face contempt of court proceedings for allegedly instructing the authorities of Tura Town Higher Secondary School to convene a meeting on Saturday with parents and guardians to continue with a school management committee that had already been dissolved by the government.
The case is currently being heard in the High Court of Meghalaya.
A move is allegedly being made to co-opt some members into the dissolved committee to once again run the administration of the school, thereby violating court rules.
Prodyut Das, a former member of the school’s managing committee, has written to the deputy commissioner pointing out that the education official is overstepping his jurisdiction and infringing on the authority of the court since the matter is sub-judice.
Tura Town Higher Secondary School is one of the oldest in the town. The last managing committee was rocked by allegations of funds misappropriation and nepotism leading to the resignation of five of its members, including a teacher representative, from the committee in protest against the alleged illegal activities of the school secretary.
The committee was dissolved by the previous District School Education Officer on the recommendations of the Education Department and the deputy commissioner of West Garo Hills, who is also the president of the school committee.
The secretary of the dissolved committee, SS Bhattacharya, had challenged the order of the government and filed a writ petition in the High Court of Meghalaya. The court, in its latest order on March 28, had given the secretary of the dissolved committee three weeks’ time to file a rejoinder affidavit.
“The DSEO when approached said his office gave the instruction to convene the meeting on the grounds that the allegation levelled against the secretary was baseless and he (secretary) would withdraw the case. How can he pass a judgment? It is not for the official but the court to decide on the merits of the case. He is infringing into judicial domain,” said Das.