Shillong, Dec 6: The assistant professors of the government-aided colleges are elated with the order passed by the High Court of Meghalaya to quash a notification which debarred teachers in government aided colleges from taking part in political activities and political associations.
It may be mentioned that Justice HS Thangkhiew on Monday had passed an order on Monday pointing out that the amended Aided College Employees Rules which barred the teachers from taking part in electoral process, is not tenable.
The assistant professors of the government-aided colleges had filed a writ petition in the High Court of Meghalaya in July this year against the Government notification issued on November 8, 2021 which bars them from taking part in politics.
While speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, one of the assistant professors who filed the writ petition, Brightstarwell Marbaniang said that they were happy that the High Court of Meghalaya had given the ruling in their favour.
According to him, the High Court has taken cognizance of the rights of the teachers to be involved in politics.
“We are six of us who have filed the petition. This is not a new issue and it started in 2018, when the present NPP-led MDA Government had brought the Meghalaya State Education Policy, 2018,” Marbaniang who will be contesting the upcoming election from Mawlai constituency from the VPP candidate from Mawlai constituency said.
He mentioned that the teachers are barred from taking part in politics as per clause 7.4.3 of the Meghalaya Education Policy.
Meanwhile, he pointed out that the state government had prepared the draft State Education Policy and it had invited views and suggestions from the stakeholders and citizens on the policy.
“As the teachers, we had gone through the draft policy and nowhere is mentioned to bar the teachers from taking part in politics. The clause to bar teachers was inserted in the policy when the draft was passed by the Cabinet and later notified by the government,” Marbaniang said.
He, however, said that it was only in 2021 that the state government came with a notification where it had amended Rule 6 and 7 of the service rules of the Government aided colleges which allowed the teachers to take part in politics.
“As per Rule 6 and 7 of the service rules, any teacher can take part in politics. But the condition was that the teachers will need to take leave if they plan to contest the election,” Marbaniang said.
According to him, this was active since the State got its statehood in 1972 and it continued till the 2018 Assembly elections.
“It is only the present government who brought the education policy to bar the teachers from taking part in politics and even amended service rules,” the HSPDP candidate from Mawlai constituency said.
Meanwhile, he informed that the Education department had sent a letter to the various Government aided colleges reminding about the notification issued on November 8 2021.
According to him, the teachers had wanted to explore other options to convince the state to withdraw the notification barring them from taking part in politics.
“But we were left with no option to approach the court following the statement of Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong who had clearly stated that the government is not going to review its decision. He (Tynsong) even stated that the aggrieved teachers can approach the court,” Marbaniang added.
Meanwhile, Assistant professor, Batskhem Myrboh who jointly filed the writ petition said that none of them except Marbaniang is planning to contest the upcoming Assembly polls.
Myrboh said that the government notification not only applies to the assistant professors but even to the school teachers and non-teaching staff of all government aided institutions.
“It is not very clear on the objective behind barring teachers from taking part in politics. But going by the statement of the ministers, the government wanted to improve the education sector,” he added.
Myrboh observed that there are many initiatives which the state government can explore to improve the education sector.
It may be mentioned that the court in its judgment has said, “The impugned amendments as given in the impugned notification dated 23.03.2021, amending the Aided College Employees Rules, being the product of a flawed decision making process, are held to be unsustainable, and as such, the impugned notification is set aside and quashed.”
“Taking into account the settled legal position, the petitioners in the considered view of this Court, are not found to hold an Office of Profit, and if, they satisfy the other conditions as laid down in Articles 102(1) and 191(1), cannot be debarred by the rules as amended from contesting in elections or holding political office. Further, the contention that the government exercises deep and pervasive control over the services of the petitioners and the institutions has not been borne out by the materials on record,” the court added. (EoM)