A local court in Bharatpur has ordered attachment of vehicle of the collector and block development officer (BDO) along with attaching the building of the district council.
The ACJM court of Bharatpur has issued these orders for non-payment of Rs 86.51 lakh to a teacher, who was removed from his job on a false assumption that his degree of B.ED was fake.
The notice of attachment was pasted on the Zilla Parishad building while notice on cars of Collector Amit Yadav and BDO could not be paste as they were not in the office.
In the notice, the Zilla Parishad, Collector and BDO have been given 30 days time. If Mahesh Sharma doesn't get all the benefits within 30 days, then the auction action will be taken.
What is the case?
The teacher Mahesh Chand Sharma, a resident of Awar village in Bharatpur, got a job as a grade third teacher in 1990. His first posting was in a primary school in Kishanpura village in Kumher area.
In 1992, after working for two years, the then BDO issued an order saying that Mahesh Sharma's B.Ed. degree was fake and terminated him without giving any notice.
Also, the education department registered an FIR against him at Kumher police station for a fake degree. However, the case turned out to be false and he (teacher) was acquitted by the court in 1994.
Later, Mahesh Chand Sharma, who has now turned 64 years of age, filed a case against the education department in 1994. He argued that his termination was illegal as his degree was not fake. After fourteen years of legal battles Sharma won the case from ADJ-1 court in 2018.
The court ordered the education department to give all the benefits to Mahesh Sharma including a payment of Rs 86.51 lakh. The court also directed education department reinstate Sharma in the job.
The education department moved High Court in 2018 against this order. The High Court dismissed the appeal of education department which moved the Supreme Court in 2022.
The Supreme Court also turned down the appeal of the education while ordering the departed to pay all the benefits Mahesh Sharma within 3 months. The department , however didn't comply with the Supreme Court order.
Mahesh Sharma, meanwhile, attained the retirement age in November 2020.
Why Collector was given notice of attachment?
Mahesh Sharma's lawyer Manish Sharma said that before 2010, the primary education was under the district council. The District Council CEO used to be the appointed officer.
After 2010, it was brought under the education department.
“That is why the court had made the Zilla Parishad a party. The collector is the head of the district. All departments come under the collector, so the court made him a party,” the lawyer said.
The BuckStopper, run by a group of seasoned journalists, holds the powerful accountable. The buck stops with them, as they cannot shrug off their official responsibilities.