BIDAR: The Education Department officials have detected a fake transfer scam in Bidar. A preliminary inquiry has revealed that some teachers, in collusion with officials, added their names to a list of those transferred after it was finalised. They not only violated the transfer norms but also norms of secrecy and integrity. They misused their positions for personal gain and this amounted to a criminal offence, a senior officer said. "We have been able to detect two cases. But we will not be surprised if such things have been going on for a long time and not been exposed," the officer added.

Suspended

The unauthorised transfers have been cancelled and the inquiry has resulted in the suspension of two teachers. Moses of the Government Higher primary school in Tarnalli in Bhalki taluk and Shashikala of the Government Higher Primary School in Markhal in Bidar taluk have been suspended pending inquiry, on charges of involvement in the incident.

Director of Public Instruction (Gulbarga division) S. Obeidulla who scrutinised the documents related to the case has not ruled out involvement of some staff in the office of the Deputy Director of Public Instruction in Bidar. Involvement of caseworkers and other staff who have handled the files relating to the transfer has been proved prima facie.

"The director has also recommended action against them," sources said. The irregularity came to light after someone in the director's office noticed differences between fonts and alignment of parts of a page in the transfer file. It was found that two names were in the space left blank on top of a page. Inquiries confirmed the suspicion that someone had added these names after the transfer list was finalised and signed by the DDPI.

Bidar-based non-governmental organisation Zilla Vikas Vedike and others had sent requests to the Education Minister Basavaraj Horatti and Secretary T.M. Vijay Bhaskar to look into the matter and punish the guilty. Vedike members headed by president Ramesh Biradar also met Mr. Obeidulla and urged him to take action against those found guilty.

In his letter to Mr. Horatti, Mr. Biradar has alleged money had changed hands in this scam. He has also suspected the scam to have spread to other districts and urged the authorities to investigate that angle.

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