SHILLONG: The High Court of Meghalaya said on Friday that the appointment of 50 untainted candidates for teachers’ post should not be disturbed and should be allowed to continue and absorbed as per the terms and conditions of their selection and consequent appointment orders.
The court of Chief Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir and Justice SR Sen, while disposing of the case, said the stop-gap arrangement mentioned in the November 2 judgment is an error apparent on the face of the record and is further compounded by the fact that on completion of the investigation by CBI into the education scam, 50 candidates have been finally found untainted.
“How could such candidates be directed to continue as stop-gap arrangement? Such untainted/unblemished candidates cannot be denied their right to continue as per their valid selection and orders of appointment,” the court said.
The earlier judgment had said, “The candidates who have been treated as untainted/unblemished both in the enquiry reports of CBI and HLSC and are in service, may be allowed to continue as stop-gap arrangement until fresh selection takes place.”
The main contention of the petitioners (assistant teachers) was that their appointments having been found untainted, “were not required to be disturbed so were required to be permanently absorbed”.
“The judgment under review harshly operates against them, before passing such judgment they should have been impleaded as party respondents and given opportunity of being heard,” their counsels informed the court.
