HC quashes appt of DEO as special officer in Cuttack high school

Cuttack: Orissa high court has quashed the appointment of district education officer (DEO), Cuttack as the special officer of state-run OSAP High School on the plea that there is no school management. Accordingly, all the orders issued by the special officer by exercising the power of school management were also invalidated.
The single-judge bench of Justice B P Satapathy issued the order recently while disposing of a petition filed by Swarnalata Dei, who has been headmaster of the school since Sept 11, 2017.
According to the HC order, the deputy director of secondary education appointed Santosh Kumari Rout, DEO (Cuttack) as special officer for the school on July 28, 2018.
Subsequently, the special officer exercised the power of the managing committee on the plea that there is no management and suspended (pending initiation of proceedings) Dei through an order on Feb 11, 2019. Earlier, the DEO had asked Dei to submit various documents pertaining to three teachers. But she had said the required documents are available in the personal files of the teachers maintained in the office of DEO. When the suspension order was challenged in court, it was recalled by the special officer on Feb 20, 2019, and Dei was allowed to continue in her post. But her administrative and financial powers were withdrawn and she was only allowed to continue as the academic head. Abhijit Bhaskar, headmaster of another Cuttack school was given the the administrative and financial powers of the OSAP school since Mar 2, 2021.
The court said the appointment of DEO as special officer when there was an approved managing committee of the school and initiation of proceedings in that capacity “as per the considered view of this court are not sustainable in the eye of law”.