SRINAGAR, MAY 25: Minister for
School Education, Haj and Auqaf and Tribal Affairs Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali today
impressed on concerned to reduce the litigation against the departments by
creating a transparent mechanism.
Speaking during a
meeting to review of the ongoing court cases against the School Education,
Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education, and Haj and Auqaf, the Minister
said that responsibility needs to be fixed on the concerned department for why
litigations are getting filed.
“We have to
make people in our departments responsible and most importantly make them
accountable so that plaintiff is not forced to go to court,” the Minister said.
Stressing on the
need to create a transparent mechanism, the Minister elaborated that it is
imperative that such a mechanism is put in place which would ensure that people
are heard and their issues are settled amicably much before they decide to go
to court.
Deliberating over
cases related to service matters, the Minister said that if promotions are done
in a time bound manner, departmental promotion committees are organized
frequently and a proper transfer policy is finalized there is no reason why
people will not think of going to court.
Speaking about
the functioning of private schools, the Minister said while the government is
keen to work in harmony with private schools, yet it becomes the latter’s
responsibility to ensure that norms fixed for private schools are adhered in
letter and spirit.
Zulfkar Ali said
that his office is getting frequent complaints that teachers working in private
sector are not getting paid as per the set guidelines. There are some schools
who are charging monthly fee from the parents for the vacation period, yet they
deprive their staff of their salaries for the same time period, said the
Minister, adding this is not acceptable.
The Minister said
charging parents’ transportation fee during vacations is totally unethically
and unacceptable, and the practice should be immediately stopped.
Speaking on fee
fixation issue of private schools, the Minister said schools should charge a
monthly fee as per the facilities they provide, as per the infrastructure it
has, and as per the quality of staff working for it.
“A school
charging several thousand rupees as monthly fee should have facilities like
proper swimming pool, a big playing field, good recreational facilities, a big
library, a well-qualified staff, a computer laboratory, science laboratory and
other features,” the Minister said.
During the
meeting, the Minister directed the concerned to ensure that no school in the
State is allowed to run without having a proper registration from the
department.
Zulfkar directed
for issuing a circular mentioning the private schools using government
resources, like their land, should reserve seats for students coming from a
humble financial background of the society as per the directive issued by the
apex court.
The Minister also
directed the concerned to ensure that school property anywhere in the State is
not used for any other purpose. He said it will be the discretion of the
department to decide what it wants to do with it.
Giving the
break-up of cases of School Education, the meeting was informed that a total
number of 1159 cases is pending in Kashmir province. Out of this 822 are
pending before High Court, 183 are pending before subordinate courts, 149 are
contempt petition, while as five cases are of public interest litigation (PIL).
For Jammu
division, a total number of cases pending are 2036, out of them 1921 are
pending in High Court and 115 are pending before subordinate courts. Likewise,
court cases pending in the administrative department are 3283.
The meeting was
informed that 510 cases of JKBOSE are pending. Out of them, 240 are for Kashmir
province, while 137 are for Jammu province. Out of them 64 are in HC, while as
number of appeals is 10 and different correction petitions are 59.
Advocate General Jahangir Iqbal, Secretary School Education Farooq Shah,
Chairperson JK BOSE Prof Veena Pandita, Commissioner Secretary Revenue Shahid
Inayat-ullah, Director School Education Kashmir G N Itoo, Director School
Education Jammu Rakesh Srangal, Special Secretary H L Sethi, and concerned law
officers and departmental staff were present in the meeting.
