This was stated by education minister Pankaj Bora in the Assembly today in reply to a query from AGP legislator Hitendra Nath Goswami.

The minister, however, failed to provide a reply to the number of vacancies corresponding to the vice principal’s post. He said he had the data of only eight out of 23 districts.

Bora said the posts were lying vacant since 1995 due to super annuation of the principals and vice-principals in different schools.

Stating that the appointments against the vacancies were not effected in view of a ruling from the Gauhati High Court directing the state government to amend the Assam Secondary Education (Provincialisation) Service regulations. The posts would be filled up as soon as the amendment was effected, the minister added.

However, the minister was subject to apparent embarrassment when vociferous AGP MLA Dilip Kumar Saikia pointed out a number of mistakes in the data provided indicating the vacancies in different schools.

Pointing to the mistakes, Saikia criticised the education department for its failure to prepare even an error-free document which was meant for tabling in the House.

Kanchan, Guwahati
akansha2@sify.com