Cuttack, July 11: The stategovernment has been embroiled in a controversy once again over its bid to reorganise the school and mass education department from block to district level.
The latest dispute concerns appointment of block education officers as part of the reorganisation process in alleged defiance of the State Administrative Tribunal’s order imposing restrictions on it.
On June 5, the tribunal had issued a stay order on the notifications issued by the education department on May 18 and 31 for creation of posts of district education officer, additional district education officer, block education officer, assistant block education officer.
The interim stay was issued after Cuttack unit president of the Odisha State Secondary Teachers Association Laxmidhar Sahoo challenged the two notifications on the ground that it caused injustice to the secondary education cadre.
The petition alleged that the state secondary education cadre had not been included for manning the block education officer posts created as part of the reorganisation.
In a contempt petition, Sahoo has now alleged that the education department had appointed 163 block education officers from July 1- 6 and asked them to join duty on July 8.
“Acting on it, the tribunal has posted the matter to July 31 and asked the commissioner-cum-secretary of the school and mass education department, director, secondary education and director, elementary, to be present,” Odisha State Secondary Teachers Association general secretary Raghunath Sahu said.
The reorganisation process envisaged creation of 30 posts of district education officer, 54 posts of additional district education officer (one each in six districts which had less than seven blocks and two each in the rest of the 24 districts), 314 posts of block education officer and 948 posts of assistant block education officer.
Following the notifications, the education department had decided that 162 of the 314 block education officer posts shall be manned by officers of the Odisha Education Service-II (school branch) and the remaining 152 posts by officers from the Odisha Elementary Education Cadre.
