The jet office in Ranchi

Jharkhand Educational Tribunal (JET) chairman L.P.N. Shahdeo retired on August 18 and since then, the quasi-judicial body established in 2005 to settle school-related disputes has been functioning, or rather not functioning, without a head.

As no move has been made as yet to appoint Shahdeo’s successor, the three-member body has now been reduced to one as no one replaced member (education) Narendra Sharma, who passed away last year.

A visit to the JET office in Ranchi revealed that at present, though fresh cases were being registered, there was no one to hear them. Cases that were being dealt with by the former chairman were now in limbo, as Shahdeo had not referred them to the existing member before his retirement.

Work of drawing and disbursing funds for official expenses had also been affected. “We are facing an acute crisis of stationery, which is needed to provide certified copies of judgements. We cannot buy anything as no one in JET at present is authorised to withdraw money or disburse it,” said an official on condition of anonymity.

Another official said of the 25 cases listed last week, hardly seven were heard, and the rest had been put on hold.

“The absence of a chairman will delay the process of delivering justice. With funds disbursal hit, we will not be able to pay the staff next month,” an official said.

According to member (administration) Narendra Bhagat, the matter had been brought to the notice of human resource development secretary B.K. Tripathi.

“There should be three members in JET — a chairman, member (education) and member (administration). While Shahdeo retired on August 18, the post of member (education) has been vacant for more than a year after the death of Narendra Sharma. Now I am the only member in the tribunal. I can hear only those cases, which had been referred by the chairman before his retirement. Hearing of new cases will take place only after a new chairman joins,” he said.

He added that there was also a paucity of space at JET, which created problems for both officials and visitors. JET functions from a quarter in HEC township.

There are 11 contractual employees at JET, while there is just one regular employee deputed by HRD department. Bhagat added that it was difficult to run JET with contractual staff. “Provision should be made for appointment of regular staff,” he said.

HRD Secretary Tripathi refused to talk about the steps taken by government to appoint a chairman when approached. However, deputy secretary of the department, Meena Thakur, said the file related to appointment of the JET chairman had been forwarded for proper action.

“The file goes to the chief minister as only a retired high court judge or a retired IAS officer can be appointed to the post,” she said.

General secretary of Dhanbad Abhivavak Manch Manoj Kumar Mishra, who visited the JET office last week, said several teachers had dropped the idea of knocking on the doors of JET because of the state of affairs.

“Justice can not be delivered without a chairman. About 10 teachers of a reputed Dhanbad school dropped the idea of filing a case against the school management because they know that once a case is filed, the school management will take steps against them and they there will be no one to listen to their problems,” he said.

The tribunal has taken up about 400 cases since it came into being.