Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 1: Expressing grave concern over the withdrawl of promotion orders of 630 Masters promoted in February 2014, NPP chairman and former minister Harsh Dev Singh has described the Govt order as highly offensive and unjustified.
He said that after repeated assurances given to the Masters promotees of 2014 by the Education Department that their much delayed adjustments and postings would be ensured in a time bound manner, the recent order had come as a bolt from the blue wherein the promotions of 630 promotees were withdrawn on frivolous considerations.
Singh pointed out that in the promotion list of Masters issued in Feb 2014, 1193 teachers were promoted as Masters in Jammu Division but only 165 were adjusted on pick and choose basis with 998 promotees continuing to work as teachers despite their promotions. He said that in Kashmir division 900 odd teachers were promoted during the same time and all of them were adjusted as Masters during the same period.
NPP leader regretted that the said left over promotees of Jammu region continued their struggle for adjustments as Masters in conformity with their promotion orders only to be told after three years that their promotion orders had been rescinded. He said that while upholding the promotions of 368 masters out of the remaining 998, the Govt arbitrarily withdrew the promotions of 630 promotees of Jammu region on the grounds that they had passed their BEd degrees through distance mode.
He said that while the Govt was within its rights to take action against fraudulent degrees or the degrees obtained from study centres of outside universities but the invalidation of BEd degrees obtained through distance mode of Jammu University was a ludicrous proposition which defied all logic and rationale. He said that even otherwise several thousands of candidates had earned their degrees through the correspondence courses under distance mode of Jammu University and got Govt jobs in various State Govt Department who too would be prejudicially affected by the recent order of the Education Department.
Calling upon the Education Minister to review the nasty order, Singh called for cancellation of the order invalidating the distance mode degrees of University of Jammu and restoration of promotion of all the genuinely promoted masters.
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