Orissa High Court

Cuttack, Jan. 13: Orissa High Court today ordered criminal proceedings against Sasanka Sekhar Sahu, district inspector of schools, Nayagarh, for filing a false affidavit related to the transfer of a school headmaster who was engaged in census work.

On December 20, 2010, the high court initiated contempt proceedings against Sahu and issued a showcause notice for violating a court order related to the transfer order of Niranjan Sahoo, headmaster of Janata Nodal U.P School, Nuapada, Orissa.

“If not relieved, he shall not be relieved till December 20, 2010”, the high court ordered on December 8, 2010, on a petition filed by Niranjan Sahoo. But he had posted another headmaster and relieved him. The headmaster was assigned work related to Census 2011. But the district inspector of schools issued his transfer order to another school 40km away on July 26, 2010.

The state government had on April 15, 2010, issued an order that officers and employees engaged in work for Census 2011 shall not be transferred till March 31, 2011. The order said: “In case any transfer is necessitated on administrative ground, prior written approval of concerned principal census officer will be obtained for such transfer.”

The district inspector of schools had filed a show-cause affidavit stating that the transfer order of Niranjan Sahoo, headmaster of Janata Nodal U.P School, Nuapada, came into effect after obtaining written approval from the collector and principal census officer of the district.

When the case came up for hearing today the district inspector of schools was asked for the written approval order referred to in the affidavit. But he failed to produce it.

“Taking serious note of an apparent effort to mislead the court the two-judge bench of Justice B.P. Das and Justice Sanju Panda directed the registrar (judicial) of the high court to initiate criminal proceedings against Sasanka Sekhar Sahu, the district inspector of schools, Nayagarh, for filing false affidavit,” petitioner counsel Prasanna Kumar Mishra told The Telegraph today.

“While quashing Niranjan Sahoo’s transfer order, the court ordered that he would continue as headmaster of Janata Nodal U.P School, Nuapada,” Mishra said.

The district inspector of schools had earlier managed to get an order in his favour from the State Administrative Tribunal on the basis of the purported approval order.

Initially, Niranjan Sahoo had challenged his transfer order before the tribunal. The tribunal had on July 27, 2010, issued a stay order on it till March 31, 2010, but at the same time allowed transfer with prior approval of the principal census officer of the district. Subsequently, the tribunal rejected Niranjan Sahoo’s plea after it was claimed that the required prior approval had been obtained.

The headmaster had subsequently filed a petition in the high court challenging the tribunal’s order.