KAT sets aside DGE order on transfer of higher secondary teachers

The Ernakulam Bench of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal (KAT) has set aside orders issued by the Director of General Education (DGE) on March 11 deploying higher secondary school teachers who were found in excess based on staff fixation for the 2023-24 academic year to other schools within the district or nearby districts and transferring other teachers working in those districts to far away places to accommodate the excess teachers.

The KAT directed the General Education department and the DGE to go ahead with the general transfer for the 2025-26 academic year by providing all teachers with the opportunity to participate in the general transfer.

The vacancy identification process should be taken up again and a fresh schedule for each step in the general transfer process issued, the tribunal said.

The petitioners had contended that there was no justification in transferring them to accommodate the excess teachers. It was the excess teachers who should have been transferred to other district.

The KAT said the contention of the General Education department Additional Secretary that if the general transfer were not completed at the beginning of the academic year, the legitimate rights of teachers for transfer would be affected was not acceptable.

As per a government order of 2017, general transfer in vacation departments such as General Education department should be completed by August 31 to facilitate transfer of teachers based on verification of student strength and fixation of staff strength.

There was clear negligence in allowing the teachers found excess to continue without work in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years, causing heavy financial burden to the exchequer.

The DGE’s order was malafide, the KAT said. The criteria followed for promotion/transfer of principals in higher secondary schools could not be followed with respect to deployment of thrown out teachers.

The KAT clarified that the DGE was the competent authority with respect to appointment, transfer, and postings of the teachers.

Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) was only an agency that provided technical support for facilitating the transfer. Its chief executive officer (CEO) who was not a party to cases before the tribunal was adamant that teachers who had taken charge in the schools they were transferred to could not be included in the general transfer.

However, the process of general transfer would be more fair and proper if all teachers, including those found excess, were given the chance to participate in the general transfer.

The tribunal observed that despite its stay against implementation of the DGE’s order and applications reserved for pronouncement of orders, the KITE CEO had issued a circular containing guidelines for deployed/transferred teachers to submit applications for the general transfer.

This was a “high-handed” action on the part of the KITE CEO and interference with the transfer norms which he was not competent for at all, the KAT said, calling for appropriate steps against such actions.