'Shocked & Surprised': Allahabad High Court Seeks Official's Explanation For Ordering Teacher's Dismissal A Year After His Death

The Allahabad High Court expressed it 'surprised' at the conduct of the state education authorities who initiated dismissal proceedings against an Assistant Teacher more than a year after he had already passed away due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Stressing that an inquiry could not be started against the dead person, a bench of Justice Prakash Padia directed the Director of Education (Basic), UP, to file a personal affidavit explaining under which provisions of law he issued directions to initiate proceedings against a deceased employee. Briefly put, a writ petition was filed by Priti Saxena, the widow of late Mukul Saxena, who worked as an Assistant Teacher in a Primary School and joined duties under the Dying-in-Harness Rules on October 24, 1996. He continued working until his demise in May 2021 due to COVID. Following his death, the petitioner, being the legally wedded wife, began receiving a family pension, which continued until November 2022. The pension was abruptly stopped in view of a letter sent by the District Basic Education Officer, Farrukhabad to the Finance and Account Officer. This letter referred to another letter issued by the Director of Education (Basic) on July 18, 2022, which gave a direction to dismiss the services of the deceased employee. Consequently, an order was passed in December 2022 by the Additional Director, Treasury and Pension, Kanpur Mandal to stop the family pension of the petitioner. Challenging this action, the widow moved the HC wherein the counsel for the Basic Education Officer placed instructions on record claiming that her husband had obtained his appointment by submitting forged documents and thus, his appointment was treated as null and void from the date of initial appointment. Justice Padia, however, strongly rebutted the department's stance. The Court noted that nothing had been brought on record in the entire instructions to show that any order had been passed by any authority treating the appointment as null and void prior to these proceedings. The Court added that for the reason best known to the Director of Education (Basic), the proceedings to dismiss a dead person was started when it is a settled law that inquiry could not be started against the dead person. Expressing its dismay, the Court stated that it was "very shocked and surprised that under what circumstances" the letter was written against the employee in July 2022 despite the fact that he had already died in May 2021. Against this backdrop, the High Court directed the Director of Education (Basic) to file a personal affidavit and explain his action. The Court has ordered the affidavit to be filed within a week, failing which the Director shall remain present before this Court on the next date fixed in the matter. The matter will be taken up next on December 16.

'Shocked & Surprised': Allahabad High Court Seeks Official's Explanation For Ordering Teacher's Dismissal A Year After His Death

Sparsh Upadhyay

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