PROCEEDINGS OF THE ASSAM INFORMATION COMMISSION

Case No. KP(M) 29(D)/2007

Dated 14-12-2007

Name of the Complainant:
Shri Makhan Ch. Doley
Secretary, General
Co-ordination Committee for SC/ST
Organization, Assam, Guwahati-5.

Name of the Public Authority:
Education (Sec & Ele) Department

The following were present:
1. Md. Sohrab Ali, J.Secy. Education (S) Deptt
2. Md. Mohsin Ali Dir. Secondary Edn.
3. Shri R. Deka Deputy Secy (Ele) & SPIO
4. Mrs. Kumkum Sinha Dy. Dir. Elementary Edn
5. Shri Brajendra Nath Talukdar Dy. Dir. Secy Education
6. Shri Mozibur Rahman Dy. Secy & SPIO Edn (S)
7. Shri R.P. Mazumdar Under Secy. & ASPIO Edn. (H)
8. Shri Makhan Ch. Doley

Brief of the case
On 2.8.07 a petition was received by this Commission from Shri Makhan Ch. Doley of Guwahati in which he sought for information relating to the filling up of reserved backlog vacancies in various departments of the Government as worked out by the Department of WPT & BC, Government of Assam. But none of the departments namely Agriculture, Cooperation, Home, Education, Animal Husbandry & Veterinary, Panchayat & Rural Development, Revenue, PWD, Water Resources and Health & family Welfare had furnished the information. Hence he submitted a petition to the Commission requesting the Commission to take action against the SPIOs of the Departments for violating the provision of the RTI Act, 2005.

On receipt of this petition the same was transferred by the Commission on 29.8.07 to the respective departments individually, in this case to the Commissioner & Secretary, Education (Higher, Secondary & Elementary), so as to give the departments a chance to furnish the information to the complainant. Then on 5.10.07 the complainant submitted a complaint stating that the departments concerned were yet to submit information to him inspite of the directions issued by the Commission to the departments to furnish information. The Commission issued notice to the Commissioner & Secretary, Education (Higher, Secondary & Elementary) Department on 13.11.07 to appear before the Commission along with the SPIOs with all the details / records concerning the complaint under section 18 (2) of the said Act. The information sought for by him were as follows:

  1. To furnish to the complainant the detailed information and position of back-log filled up by special drive and addresses of the offices in which the candidates have been appointed.
  2. Whether any candidate belonging to the ST/SC/ST(H) appointed by the department resigned his / her post. If so, whether the vacant post had been filled up by the department. The name of the candidate who resigned if any from the post and filled-up by ST/SC/ST(H) against the vacant post should also be furnished with addresses.
  3. The Cabinet Committee approved to fill up back log post of Grade-II and IV. In this connection some department diverted Grade-III post to grade –IV post and filled up without prior approval of the WPT & BC etc. department. If so, the reason for diverting of posts be asked to furnish in detail.
  4. Some departments viz Education, Agriculture and land record (Revenue) were yet to fill up the backlog as on date. If so the reason for delay in filling up of the back-log
  5. The concerned department also be asked to state as to whether the salary of the appointee have been paid.
Submission of the complainant
The complainant stated that the WPT & BC Department allotted 432 posts as backlog vacancies to be filled up by special recruitment by the Education Department. These posts are grade I – 60, grade – II – 149 and grade III-223, with the break-up of 12 vacancies for SC, 24 vacancies for STP and 24 vacancies for STH in grade I, 48 vacancies for SC, 100 vacancies for STP and 1 vacancy for STH in grade II and 57 vacancies for SC, 94 vacancies for STP and 72 vacancies for STH, total 432 vacancies. He sought for information from the SPIO of WPT & BC Department who sent his letter to the Commissioner & Secretary, Higher Education Department, Government of Assam for furnishing him the information.

The SPIO of Higher Education informed him that none of these backlog vacancies related to Higher Education Department and so he transferred the petition to the Education (Secondary) Department. But up till now, the complainant did not receive any information from the Education Department. Hence he approached the Commission..

The SPIO of the Higher Education Department submitted that the petition was transferred to the SPIO of the Secondary Education Department with intimation to the Deputy Secretary, WPT & BC Department on 28.6.07.

The Joint Secretary, Secondary Education was not aware of the direction on the transferred petition. He stated that they received the transferred petition from the Commission along with the notice for appearance and sent the same to the Director, Secondary Education, Assam for taking necessary action.

The Director, Secondary Education submitted the report vide his letter dated 3.12.07 about the position of appointment of the SC/ST candidates as Assistant Teachers in provincialised Secondary Schools against the vacancies under the special recruitment drive. He stated that in total 130 posts of backlog vacancies were filled up with 45 SC candidates and 85 ST candidates and he had already handed over the information along with the places of posting to the complainant today. The complainant acknowledged the receipt of the information from the Director, Secondary Education. He further stated that besides appointing 130 teachers against backlog vacancies he allotted 17 posts to BTAD and that one backlog vacancy under Lakhimpur district was pending for a court case and one STH backlog vacancy for Kamrup district was yet to be filled up as there was no STH candidate available.

The Director, Secondary Education further submitted that he wrote to the Director of Education, BTAD, Kokrajhar allotting 12 backlog vacancies of STP vide his letter dated 31.8.07. He also informed the Director of Education that the select list of 5 numbers of posts under Udalguri District of BTAD was not received by him till that date. He also reminded the Director Education, BTAD. Kokrajhar and requested him to issue appointment letters to the selected candidates under Udalguri district as selected by the Udalguri District level Selection Committee for filling up backlog vacancies. The Director, Secondary Education assured that one vacancy for STH in Kamrup district would be filled up soon.

The SPIO of Directorate of Elementary Education informed the Commission that they had appointed 223 teachers against the backlog vacancies and the list of these teachers appointed was handed over to the complainant today.

The Joint Secretary, (Secondary) Education was asked to explain the position of 60 grade I posts which were yet to be notified by the Government as confirmed by him. He expressed that he was not aware of the details of 60 posts in grade I as the Secondary Eduction Department is the appointing authority for Assam Education Service Officers while the Elementary Education Department is the appointing authority for Grade I posts for SCERT, B.Ed & BT Colleges and Adult Education Department. Hence he expressed his inability to give assurance to the Commission that all the 60 posts in Grade I reserved for SC/ST vacancies as backlog would be filled up.

The complainant stated that 20 STH vacancies were not filled up by the Elementary Education Department as there was no candidates. However the SPIO of the Directorate of Elementary Education informed the Commission that there were 18 nos of STH backlog vacancies and 2 nos of SC backlog vacancies to be filled up. While they had already filled up 20 vacancies for SC/STP/STH the SPIO of Directorate of Elementary Education clarified that in first lot 183 backlog vacancies were filled up by SC/STP/STH vacancies. 20 more vacancies were filled up in second lot by SC/STP & STH candidates. Remaining 20 vacancies were yet to be filled up and according to their records out of 20 vacancies 18 vacancies were for STH and 2 for SC. The Complainant objected to this and stated that as per the letter issued by the Secretary, Elementary Education Department 20 STH were to be filled up as such this appeared to be a diversion of 2 posts from STH to SC and it was not proper and was irregular. He requested the Commission to look into the matter so that there was no diversion from STH backlog vacancies to SC.

Observation of the Commission
The Commission on perusal of the records produced before it found that in total there were 432 backlog vacancies for special recruitment drive by the Government of Assam with 60 grade I vacancies. But the Commission observed that none of the officers present could explain how 60 grade I posts were sub-divided between Education (Secondary) Department and Education (Elementary) Department. It was also not confirmed to the Commission how many posts in Grade I were to be filled up by the Secondary Education and how many were to be filled up by Elementary Education. In the absence of the Commissioner & Secretary, Secondary & Elementary Education none of the officers present could explain the position to the Commission.

The Commission found that on receipt of the direction from the Education (Secondary) department the Director Secondary Education took prompt action by filling up of the posts and by informing the BTAD authorities about the urgency of filling up of the 17 posts. The Commission further found that the Elementary Education filled up 223 backlog vacancies of teachers while the Director of Secondary Education filled up 149 posts totaling 372 backlog vacancies. As such the Commission found that 60 Grade I posts were to be filled up by the Government in Secondary and Elementary Department .

The Commissioner & Secretary, Elementary Education likewise needed to clarify whether the remaining 20 vacancies were exclusively for ST(H) or two posts out of it were for SC.

Decision of the Commission
The Commission on careful consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case decided to issue the following directions:

  1. The Commissioner and Secretary, Secondary & Elementary Education Department should within one month of the receipt of this order take step to complete the proceeding of filling up of the backlog vacancies in grade I and inform the complainant about the action taken in this regard with intimation to the Commission
  2. The Commissioner & Secretary, Elementary & Secondary Education should take decision whether 20 backlog vacancies for STH are to be filled up or 18 STH vacancies and 2 vacancies for SC are to be filled up as per the direction of the WOT & BC Department. After taking the decision in this regard he should take steps to complete the proceeding for filling up of these 20 backlog vacancies and intimate the action taken along with details of posting to the complainant within a month with intimation to the Commission
  3. In case the Commission did not receive any confirmation from the Commissioner & Secretary, Education (Secondary & Elementary) Department regarding compliance of the above directions the Commission would be constrained to issue summons to him for appearing before the Commission to explain the position personally on the next date fixed.
  4. The Secretary of the Commission will place the file before the State Chief Information Commissioner on 21.1.08 for further orders.

Sd/- (R.S. Mooshahary)
Chief Information Commissioner, Assam
Janata Bhawan, Dispur.


Sd/ (Dr. B K Gohain)
State Information Commissioner, Assam
Janata Bhawan, Dispur.


Authenticated true copy

(Jiauddin Ahmed)
Secretary, State Information Commission, Assam
Janata Bhawan, Dispur.

Memo No SIC/KP(M) 29(D)/2007 Dated December 14, 2007

CC:
1. The Commissioner & Secretary, Education (Higher), Government of Assam
2. The Commissioner & Secretary, Government of Assam, Education (Secondary & Elementary) Department, Dispur.
3. Md. Sohrab Ali, Joint Secretary. Education (Secondary) Department, Dispur
4. Md. Mohsin Ali, Director, Secondary Education, Kahilipara, Guwahati
5. Shri R. Deka Deputy Secretary, Education (Elementary) Department & SPIO, Assam, Dispur.
6. Mrs. Kumkum Sinha, Deputy Director, Elementary Education, Kahilipara, Guwahati.
7. Shri Brajendra Nath Talukdar Deputy Director, Secondary Education, Kahilipara, Guwahati
8. Shri Mozibur Rahman Deputy Secretary & SPIO Education (Secondary) Department, Government of Assam, Dispur
9. Shri R.P. Mazumdar Under Secy. & ASPIO Education. (Higher) Department, Dispur.
10. Shri Makhan Ch. Doley, Secretary General, Coordination Committee for SC / ST Organisation, Assam, Guwahati-5.
11. The DIPR, Dispur, Assam
12. MD, AMTRON, Bamunimaidan.
13. Office file.


Secretary
State Information Commission, Assam