Govt to return ₹290 crore to trainee teacher applicants

PRAYAGRAJ : The state government will return around ₹290 crore collected as application fee from unemployed candidates who had applied for recruitment as government school trainee teachers in 2012.

These candidates had applied for the recruitment that was to be undertaken on the basis of their academic records during the ‘72825 trainee teachers’ recruitment drive’ initiated in December 2012 during the Akhilesh Yadav-led state government.

However, the recruitment remained stuck due to litigations. Now these candidates can apply to their respective District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) and get back the fee of up to ₹40,000 per candidate deposited by them.

Secretary, Basic Education Board, Ruby Singh has issued requisite orders for it on October 29.

“For claimin g the deposited fee, a candidate would be required to submit their applications along with details of their bank account number, IFSC code of the bank, a copy of the bank challan of the fee deposited and a copy of their application form besides their mobile number,” she said while confirming the move.

THE CANDIDATES CAN APPLY TO THEIR RESPECTIVE DIETS CENTRE AND GET BACK THE FEE OF UP TO ₹40,000 PER CANDIDATE DEPOSITED BY THEM.

However, some details like the date of accepting these applications from the candidates and the last date of it are yet to be declared.

This recruitment was initially started during the BSP regime in November 2011 and 72825 posts were to be filled on the basis of the TET merit of the applicants.

However, on allegations of graft, the then director (secondary education) Sanjay Mohan was subsequently arrested in February 2012, said education department officials.

The Akhilesh Yadav government then came to power and got an inquiry conducted by a panel headed by the chief secretary and decided to initiate the recruitments afresh on the basis of academic records of the applicants.

The advertisement for the recruitment was formally issued on December 5, 2012, the officials said.

As the applicants needed to apply for each of the district separately depending upon the existing vacancies there, most candidates ended by spending up to ₹37,000 to ₹40,000 as the requisite fee for applying, the officials added.

Counselling then started in February 2013 but on its very first day, the Allahabad High Court stayed the proceedings that were taking place on the basis of the academic merit of the candidates.

Applicants had been demanding refund of the deposited fee for the past six years and it is only now that the process for this has been initiated by the state government.