In a bizzare move, the finalization of mass reshuffle of teachers, ordered in the last week of February this year, has proven a costly affair for the State Exchequer as the Directorate of School Education Kashmir (DSEK) has been charged an amount of Rs 2.94 lakhs for the facilities provided to the staff, tasked to finish the process at a government run, Circuit House here.

A top official said the Director School Education Kashmir (DESK), provided government accommodation to the staff in Circuit House Srinagar for almost a month and were tasked to finalize the data base of the teaching staff working in the department.

“The staff was asked to finalize the process of mass reshuffle of teachers in schools across Kashmir,” the official said wishing not to be named.

For this, the J&K government’s Hospitality and Protocol Department has charged an amount of Rs 2.94 lacs to DSEK which officials said will be adjusted from accounts of Official Expenses (OF).

“Transfer of teaching staff was a routine job of the Department and we fail to understand why such facilities were provided to the employees who were otherwise supposed to complete the whole process during official hours,” the official said.

Meanwhile, the sources said the Director School Education Kashmir (DSEK) Kumar Rajiv Ranjan was adamant to complete the process before the opening of all schools on March 01, after over two months of winter vacations announced in December last year.

“Apart from people in innovation cell the director deployed some employees from other districts to finalize the process,” a source said.

The officials said employees in government run guest house-Circuit House has sent a bill worth Rs 2. 42 lakhs which is under process in Department for payment.

Meanwhile, a top official said it was unethical on part of the department to increase the burden on state exchequer to facilitate the employees for doing their routine job.

“No department can use government money for these purposes which are aimed at to provide luxurious facilities to employees who are tasked to do routine job. This is wrong, ethically as well as morally,” the official said.

“All the employees who were provided accommodation in circuit house were local, who usually do their official work from the office. It was surprising to see the department bearing cost of the employees for doing the normal job,” he said.

The officials said the department implemented the transfer policy in haste without completing the basic exercise. “DSEK ordered mass reshuffle of teachers on a large scale without doing its exercise properly. There were scores of errors in data base generation,” the official said.

One of the employees who stayed in Circuit House confirmed that they were provided government accommodation to finalise the transfer list.

“DSEK also visited the team to inspect database generation and finalization of transfer list,” he said.

An official in Accounts section said the amount charged by hospitality and protocol department will be given under Office Expenses (OE).

“The bill is under process and will be paid to the hospitality and protocol department for providing accommodation to the employees,” he said.

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