Cuttack, March 29: Orissa High Court today gave a clean chit to the guidelines that the state government had adopted to recruit sikshya sahayaks. The order, therefore, cleared the decks for the appointment of sikshya sahayaks in the state.

The high court ruling assumes significance as the state government had undertaken a massive drive to recruit 24,000 sikshya sahayaks in all the 30 districts of the state. The district collectors had been asked to complete the process of recruitment by March end.

Accordingly, a draft merit list had been prepared and the target was to finalise the recruitment process by March 22. But the court had imposed restrictions on issuing appointment orders on March 8 after a batch of petitions challenged the resolution and guidelines adopted for recruitment.

The school and mass education department had issued a resolution with guidelines for engagement of sikshya sahayaks on January 10, 2011, and to implement the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 that had been enforced since April 1, 2010.

In order to implement the Act, the Orissa Right to Children of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2010, had been notified and enforced from October 18, 2010.

“The single bench of Justice H.S. Bhalla dismissed the batch of writ petitions and gave the ago ahead signal for the appointment process while ruling that there is nothing illegal in the resolution and notification issued for engagement of sikshya sahayaks,” school and mass education department’s standing counsel, Karunakar Rath, told The Telegraph.

The petitioners had challenged fixation of Plus Two or its equivalent as the eligibility criteria. They had sought relaxation of minimum qualification to matriculation and certified training (CT) as in the case of elementary cadre rule for appointment of primary school teachers.

“The court, however, endorsed the school and mass education department’s stand that elementary cadre rules are not applicable to sikshya sahayaks as they are not primary school teachers.

“Besides, the state government had little to do with the Plus Two minimum qualification norm as it had been fixed by the National Teachers’ Training Institute, which is the nodal academic authority,” Rath said.

According to the resolution, sikshya sahayaks are being engaged in each education district by the respective zilla parishad.

by a Selection Committee to be headed by the Collector-cum-Chief Executive Officer of Zilla Parishad as Chairman, District Inspector of Schools, District Project Coordinator (SSA), District Employment Officer and the District Welfare Officer. The District Project Coordinator (SSA) will act as the Convener of the Committee, who shall prepare the draft select list and place before the Zilla Parishad (ZP) with due approval of Collector-cum-CEO of the Zilla Parishad.

Cuttack, March 29: Decks were cleared for the appointment of Sikshya Sahayaks in Orissa with the High Court giving today a clean chit to the guidelines adopted by the State government for engagement of Sikshya Sahayaks.

The High Court ruling assumes significance as the State government had undertaken a massive recruitment drive of Sikshya Sahayaks.

Under the drive 24,000 Sikshya Sahayaks had been planned for appointment in all the 30 districts across the state. All the District Collectors had been asked to complete the process of recruitment by March 2011.

Accordingly a draft merit list had been prepared with the target to finalize the recruitment or engagement process by March 22, 2011”. But the Court had imposed restrictions on issuing of appointment orders on March 8 on a batch of petitions had challenged the resolution and the guidelines adopted for engagement of Sikshya Sahayaks.

The school and mass education department had issued a resolution with guidelines for engagement of Sikshya Sahayaks on January 10, 2011 to implement the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 that had been enforced since April 1, 2010.

For implementing the Act the Orissa Right to Children of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2010 had been notified and enforced from October 18, 2010.

“The Single Bench of Justice H.S.Bhalla dismissed the batch of writ petitions and gave the ago ahead signal for the appointment process while ruling that there is no illegality in the resolution and notification issued for engagement of Sikshya Sahayaks”, school and mass education department’s Standing Counsel Karunakar Rath told The Telegraph.

The petitioners who were aspirants had mostly challenged fixation of plus two or its equivalent as eligibility criteria. The petitioners had sought relaxation of minimum qualification to matriculation and Certified Training (CT) as in the case of elementary cadre rule for appointment of primary school teachers.

“The Court however endorsed the school and mass education department’s stand that elementary cadre rules are not applicable to Sikshya Sahayaks as they are not primary school teachers. Besides, the state government had little to do with the Plus Two minimum qualification norm as it had been fixed by the National Teachers Training Institute, which is the nodal academic authority”, Rath said.

According to the resolution Sikshya Sahayaks are being engaged in each Education district by the respective Zilla Parishad by a Selection Committee to be headed by the Collector-cum-Chief Executive Officer of Zilla Parishad as Chairman, District Inspector of Schools, District Project Coordinator (SSA), District Employment Officer and the District Welfare Officer. The District Project Coordinator (SSA) will act as the Convener of the Committee, who shall prepare the draft select list and place before the Zilla Parishad (ZP) with due approval of Collector-cum-CEO OF ZP .