Khemka puts his foot down on transfers

CHANDIGARH: The new secondary education director of Haryana is thumping the rule book.
On Tuesday, his very first day in office, Ashok Khemka has said a resounding no to transfer of teachers which will certainly echo in the chief minister''s office (CMO).
There is a blanket ban on transfer of government employees in Haryana. Yet hundreds of teachers continue to circumvent the rules by taking the CMO route.Transfer orders have been issued by the directorate of secondary education in dozens by relaxing rules as per the ‘desire'' of the chief minister, conveyed in notes sent by CMO.
But no longer. The new director Khemka has issued orders, prominently pinned up on the notice board of the directorate, demanding strict compliance of the transfer policy.
He has categorically stated that under no circumstances should a transfer order be issued, even if relaxation is necessary, without citing the administrative grounds necessitating the transfer during the academic session.
Examples of such grounds could be promotion, re-joining after suspension, new posting, couple case, medical grounds etc, Khemka has said in the order.
The order points out that transfer of a teacher in the middle of academic session disturbs teaching, which was a national loss not easily quantifiable.
The order states that a valid ground for a teacher''s transfer could also be that the beneficiary school has no teacher or has an adverse teacher-student ratio.
However, care must be taken so that the teacherstudent ratio of the school from which the teacher is being transferred should not be more adversely affected after the transfer as compared to the beneficiary school, says the order.
Khemka has taken over following the exit of his predecessor D Suresh within days of latter''s joining the post.