Hyderabad: District educational officers of Warangal, Khammam, Nalgonda and Karimnagar, sentenced to two months imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2,000 fine in a contempt case in relation to the 1998 batch teachers recruitment, got relief after two years with the Telangana High Court allowing their appeals on Tuesday.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice A. Rajasheker Reddy set aside the conviction of the DEOs for contempt.
The officials were convicted in 2019 by a single judge bench that was dealing a contempt petition filed by around 400 candidates who said they were deprived of appointment as secondary grade teachers (SGTs) under the 1998 DSC notification as the four DEOs were not implementing court orders.
The candidates’ complaint was that less meritorious canditates were appointed as SGTs, They said the officials had not revised the appointments list despite orders of the Administration Tribunal and High Court.
After hearing all contentions, the Chief Justice Bench observed, "The process of recruitment is of the year 1998, persons have been appointed by the state government and at this juncture in the year 2021 setting aside some appointments of 1998 does not arise. So the appellants cannot be said to have disobeyed the court orders."
