A former principal of Government Higher Secondary School, Kuzhimanna, Malappuram, is planning to approach the Kerala High Court against the General Education department’s move to recover around ₹9.5 lakh from her retirement benefits as compensation in a case related to theft of Plus One improvement examination question papers in 2020.
D. Geetha, a native of Kunnamangalam in Kozhikode, was the principal at the school when the question papers for the exams in English, Economics, and Accountancy with AFS, scheduled for December 18, 2020, were found missing. Ms. Geetha, along with two other teachers and the school watchman were suspended following the incident. The government claims that it had incurred a loss of ₹38.3 lakh for reprinting the papers and the amount will have to be recovered from these four people. T. Mohammedali of Government Higher Secondary School, Chullikkode, and K. Mahroof Ali of Crescent Higher Secondary School, Ozhukoor, both in Malappuram, and watchman T. Abdulsamad are the others involved in the case.
The action followed a department-level inquiry into the incident. Though Ms. Geetha retired from service over two years ago, she was not given the death-cum-retirement gratuity benefits, which will be around ₹14 lakh. A recent government order said that around ₹9.5 lakh would be deducted from this to add up to the loss incurred by the department. Both Mr. Mohammedali and Mr. Abdulsamad too recently retired from service.
Though a police case had been registered in connection with the incident, the culprits could not be caught. The teachers allege that the police could not investigate into the clues apparent in the closed-circuit television camera footage recorded on the day. The police have reportedly closed the case citing lack of evidence.
“The theft happened during the pandemic period. I had to travel all the way to Malappuram from Kozhikode every day and return. There were no other teachers in the school. The question papers had reached the school at least 10 days in advance. The watchman went on panchayat election duty without informing me, and there was no one at the school in the night,” Ms. Geetha told The Hindu on Wednesday. Teachers organisations too have opposed the government move claiming that the teachers were being made scapegoats to protect the culprits.
