Backlash greets govt’s decision to appoint IAS as MSBSHSE Chief in Maharashtra

In an unexpected twist, a sharp backlash has come to greet the Maharashtra government’s decision to appoint an IAS officer, Trigun Kulkarni, as the head of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE). The education department officials are up in arms against this decision and have moved the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) by filing a petition challenging the appointment of IAS officers as heads within the education sector.

As this is the first time that an IAS officer has been appointed as the MSBSHSE chairman, these officials virtually want to nip the problem in the bud before it gets out of hand.

 Their biggest fear is that if this trend of appointing IAS officers in the educational sector continues, it will disrupt the entire chain of the promotional prospects of officers belonging to the State Education Service.

There are various wings functioning under the Education Department like, Education Commissionerate, State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT), State Examination Council, Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE), Directorate of Primary Education, Directorate of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, Directorate of Planning, Balbharti, and the Maharashtra Primary Education Council.

So far, there has been a practice of promoting a State Education Service officer to the post of the chairman or director of any other directorate or autonomous institution, with the exception of the Education Commissioner and the Maharashtra Primary Education Council. Hence, they feel the government’s decision to depute IAS officers to these posts would ruin their chances of promotion to these posts.

This is not the first time that such a decision has been resented by the Education Department officials. About two years ago, the Education Department had opted to appoint officers from the Revenue Department on a deputation basis to the role of divisional deputy director in the Education Department. That decision, too, had been challenged in the MAT, which subsequently stayed the appointment. These officials now hope that it will be replicated.

Their petition to the ‘MAT’ is simply aimed at ensuring that only officers from the Education Department are appointed to these positions so that their right to promotion is safeguarded. A hearing is expected soon.

By Dinesh Kumar, senior journalist