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.
