Notice issued from High Court, DEO withdrew the order

Bilaspur. Challenging the order of the then DEO of Mungeli, the State Joint Teachers Association had filed a petition in the High Court. As soon as the court notice was received on the petition, the Mungeli District Education Officer withdrew the order. After the state government presented its reply in the court in this regard, the petition has been rejected in the High Court. The petitioner teachers union had demanded closure of the app, terming the order of the then DEO as a violation of the right to privacy.

Chhattisgarh United Teachers Association petitioner had filed a petition in the Chhattisgarh High Court through advocate Ratnesh Kumar Aggarwal. In this it was told that the then District Education Officer of Mungeli had connected the mobile phones to GPS in the name of attendance of teachers. With this, wherever the teacher went, information was available directly on the DEO’s mobile. Teachers had demanded closure of this app. The petitioner had said in his petition that this order of the then DEO is a direct violation of the right to privacy. Due to this, the privacy of teachers is being directly affected. This kind of order in the name of attendance is a direct interference of constitutional rights. After the notice of the High Court, the state government in its reply had declared the app released by the DEO as unauthorized. Also, information about issuing orders for its closure was given before the court. On July 1, 2022, the then District Education Officer of Mungeli, Satish Pandey, had implemented Teacher Support and Management System Mungeli (TSMS) to register the attendance of teachers. In the app, it was made mandatory for teachers to register their attendance by scanning the QR code at 10 am and 4 pm. Teachers posted in 500 schools of the district were uploading the app and scanning the QR code both the times. This app was made by DEO from a private company of Bhilai. Since downloading the app, teachers were informing the DEO about technical and practical problems. Ignoring the complaints of teachers, the DEO had given instructions to implement it strictly. The DEO had also issued instructions to make the salary of teachers on the basis of attendance in the app.

Teachers were getting calls from customer care

After downloading the app, calls started coming continuously on teachers’ mobile phones from car show rooms, jewelery shops, medical stores and other companies and show rooms of Raipur and Bhilai. Even after informing the DEO about this, the app was not closed. When Mohan Lahiri, District President of Chhattisgarh Joint Teachers Association, Mungeli, raised the issue regarding the complaints of the app in the coordination meeting, the then BEO of Patharia Umed Lal Jaiswal had given a show cause notice. By doing this, the education authorities were trying to suppress the protest.

Action against then DEO Pandey and BEO

After the notice of the High Court, the Secretary School Education Department informed the court that the disputed app has been closed. In relation to the app operating without the permission of the state government, the then DEO Pandey and BEO Jaiswal of Mungeli have been removed from their posts and departmental action has been initiated. After the reply of the state government, the High Court has rejected the petition of the teachers union. The petitioner teachers union had made Secretary School Education Department Chhattisgarh Government, Collector Mungeli, DEO Mungeli, BEO Patharia as parties in its petition.