DHTE officials’ conduct ‘unprofessional’

SHILLONG, Nov 30: The Meghalaya College Teachers’ Association (MCTA) has flagged “unprofessional conduct” of the officials in the Directorate of Higher and Technical Education (DHTE).
In a complaint to the Commissioner and Secretary of Education department, the MCTA said it condemned the “unprofessional and unscrupulous conduct of the officials in the Directorate”.
“It has come to our knowledge that the senior officials in the Directorate often resort to issuing contentious verbal orders to the Principals of colleges and even retired teachers that harm the interests of the teachers in the state of Meghalaya. It may be conjectured that in order to get the hidden agenda executed, they refrain from issuing written orders for fearing legal implications but, instead, applied pressure tactics on the Principals and teachers alike to succumb to their whimsical and ulterior agenda,” the complaint letter read.
The MCTA has pointed out that some principals of a few colleges were directed not to pay the allowances to teachers.
The Supreme Court had issued an order on August 23 to the Meghalaya government to pay the state government allowances to the teachers drawing the UGC scale of pay in deficit colleges with effect from January 1, 2018.
The DHTE then reportedly forwarded the order of the Education department dated September 26, 2022, to the principals of deficit colleges to calculate the allowances arrears due to the college teachers till September 2022 and to submit the same by October 15 2022.
The principals of colleges were reportedly ready to implement the DHTE order when “senior official(s) reached out to some principals of a few colleges not to pay the allowances to teachers”.
“It is even further appalling to learn that he/they even verbally informed that the salary grants of those colleges that regularized the allowances along with the October 2022 pay of the teachers will not be sanctioned or released,” the MCTA said in the letter.
It said that in the event of further damage to the deficit college teachers by “willfully disrespecting the order of the Supreme Court on teachers’ entitlement to the state government allowances”, the association will take recourse to file the Contempt of Court.
The MCTA urged the Commissioner and Secretary of Education department to instruct subordinates in the Directorate to “immediately stop the de-formalisation of the functioning of the DHTE and to direct them to abide by the principles of public administration.”