The Telegraph, UK (May 29, 2012) Teacher in India goes unpaid for two decades after clerical errors An Indian teacher went without his state salary for 22 years because officials spelled his father's name and district name incorrectly and then suspended him as an imposter.
Dean Nelson in New Delhi 11:58AM BST 28 May 2012 Anarul Haque, aged 60, began teaching village children in Murshidabad in West Bengal in 1986 but was suspended a few months after his appointment when officials discovered his name and address did not match those in their records. Although Mr Haque pointed out that local education officials had simply made a series of spelling and clerical errors – including his date of birth – he was forced to begin a series of court cases to win back his job and have his salary paid. His letter of appointment should have named him as Anarul Haque of Manikpur village in the district of Kurutia, son of Shakeb, and born on March 14, 1952. Instead he was recorded as the son of Shaked, born in 1955, and living in Kurulia district. Despite being suspended, reinstated and suspended again in a series of court actions, he continued to work as a teacher, cycling to remote villages to give private tuition to feed his eight children. "None of these mistakes were created by me, they were all clerical errors. For some government official's mistakes I have had to pay dearly for 26 years," he told The Pioneer newspaper. hen the High Court ordered his reinstatement in 1989, he marked the victory by naming his new daughter "Winning" but the Communist-led government ignored the ruling and reportedly demanded more than £700 in bribes to enforce the ruling. Mr Haque named his second daughter "Contempt" to highlight his disappointment. Now he is taking his case to the Supreme Court and is hoping for support from the state's new chief minister, Mamata "Didi" Bannerjee, whose Trinamool Congress party ended more than 30 years of Communist rule in a landslide victory last year. "I could not afford the [bribe] money. So I had to wait for so many years for the government to change. That has [now] happened. I only have Didi as my hope. With all her concern for teachers' salaries, I am sure she will help me," he said _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
