Disability Certificate Scam
By Arun Pratap Singh
Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 6 Mar: The issue of fake disability certificates in Uttarakhand is once in the spotlight. Official sources claim that the case is expected to create difficulties for those who had allegedly secured jobs in the Education Department by availing reservation benefits on the basis of fraudulent disability certificates.
It may be recalled that, earlier, disability certificates of 52 lecturers were found to be fake during a departmental inquiry, after which action from the department was awaited. However, no concrete step was taken at that stage. Now the department has decided to conduct a fresh examination of disability certificates of all the 234 lecturers appointed under disability category. For this, their medical evaluation will be carried out at AIIMS Rishikesh.
Questions raised over disability certificates in the Uttarakhand Education Department have again become viral currently. After an earlier departmental inquiry found the disability certificates of 52 lecturers to be fake, the government has now decided to examine the entire matter on a broader scale.
In this connection, the State Education Department has decided to conduct a fresh medical examination of the disability certificates of all 234 lecturers across the state. The examination will be carried out by a medical board of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Rishikesh.
In fact, questions had been raised for a long time regarding the disability certificates of several teachers working as lecturers in the Education Department. Earlier, too, an inquiry was conducted at the departmental level in which the certificates of 52 lecturers were found to be suspicious or fake. After this, notices were issued to the teachers seeking their responses, but no concrete action was taken after this. However, the issue has now become a major challenge for the department.
Education Director General Deepti Singh said that the department has taken this step on the basis of directions issued by the court. She stated that all the lecturers in the state who have availed benefits on the basis of disability will undergo medical examination so that the actual situation can be ascertained. Through this process, it will be ensured that if any irregularity or fraud is detected, appropriate action can be taken.
The health examination process will begin from tomorrow. In this regard, the Directorate of Education has issued guidelines to all Chief Education Officers (CEOs) in the state. Under these instructions, all the 234 lecturers serving on the basis of disability certificates will have to appear before the medical board at AIIMS Rishikesh for examination. The health assessment process will commence on March 7.
To ensure that the examination is conducted in an organised manner at AIIMS Rishikesh, separate dates have been fixed. Apart from 7 March, the medical board will also examine the teachers on 12, 14 and 28 March and on 2 April. Offices of the Chief Education Officers have been directed to inform the lecturers concerned working in their respective districts who hold disability certificates about these dates and to ensure that all the teachers appear for the examination at the scheduled time.
Education Director Mukul Sati said the department is taking the matter very seriously. He claimed that the issue has been treated with seriousness since the department first received complaints regarding it. The department’s effort is to ensure that the inquiry is completed in a fair and transparent manner so that the rights of genuinely disabled persons can be protected and appropriate action can be taken against those who have availed benefits through fake certificates.
It may be noted that the issue was first raised by the National Federation of the Blind. The organisation had alleged that several teachers were securing jobs and other benefits on the basis of fake disability certificates. A formal complaint in this regard was also submitted to the Education Department. In addition, an appeal was also made before the Court Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities regarding the matter.
Following the complaint, the Education Department conducted a preliminary inquiry in which 52 disability certificates were found to be incorrect. Subsequently, notices were issued to the concerned lecturers seeking clarification. However, even after the issue of notices, no concrete action was however be taken against the teachers whose certificates were suspicious and they continued to serve. This has resulted in continued questions regarding the matter.
Meanwhile, the Court Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities had also directed the Education Department to take action in accordance with rules against teachers whose certificates were found to be incorrect. However, no direct action has so far been taken against any teacher. This is the reason why the department has now decided to undertake a comprehensive investigation into the entire matter.
The Education Department claims that in case any person has obtained a job or reservation benefits on the basis of a fake disability certificate, it would not only be a violation of rules but also injustice to genuine disabled candidates. Therefore, once the investigation is completed, departmental and legal action may also be initiated against those teachers who are found guilty of submitting fake certificates. Now the medical tests to be conducted at AIIMS Rishikesh are awaited. Only after the results of this test are available will it become clear how many teachers are genuinely eligible under the disability category and how many may have wrongly availed its benefits.
