Aizawl: Mizoram’s apex student body, Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), on Wednesday, urged the state government to take necessary action against those teachers who hired proxies or substitutes.
Speaking to reporters, the organisation president, H. Lalthianghlima, said that at least 22 teachers from 14 state-run schools across six districts have reportedly hired proxies on their behalf without posting at their respective posting places.
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He said that the student body has been investigating and taking measures to completely stop the illegal practices in state-run schools.
Earlier, the student body had appealed to the public to furnish a report on any teachers hiring proxy by issuing a notification and using flyers, he said.
Lauding the government for its measures to end the illegal practice of hiring proxy employees, Lalthianghlima said that the MZP has strongly urged the government to take action against those teachers who continue to hire proxies, and set June 13 as the deadline to take such action.
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The school education department officials did not respond to the matter.
Soon after assuming power in December 2023, the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) government, headed by Chief Minister Lalduhoma, vowed to end the decades-old practice of illegally hiring proxies by government employees and directed such employees to report themselves to their respective departments with explanations by January last year.
According to officials, more than 3,600 employees from various departments had reported that they hired proxy staffers on their behalf following the government order.
They said that the school education department had the highest number of proxy employees at 1,115, followed by the health and family welfare department at 624 and the power and electricity department with 253 proxies.
While there were several reasons for hiring proxies, the majority of the employees, numbering more than 2,000, cited health reasons, and 703 employees cited domestic problems.
The employees also cited other reasons for hiring proxies, including the absence of residential quarters, inaccessibility of the villages where they were posted, and language barriers, among others.
In June last year, the government directed all employees who had illegally hired proxies to report to their designated posting places within 45 days of the notification.
In March, Lalduhoma had informed the assembly that currently, there was no report of employees hiring proxies.
He had said that the government would take appropriate action against employees who continue to hire proxies despite the government diktat.
Lalduhoma also said his government will offer voluntary retirement to unfit employees under the newly introduced ‘Special Voluntary Retirement Scheme.’
According to the Mizoram Special Voluntary Retirement Scheme, 2024 notified in January this year, regular employees governed by ‘CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972’, who has not rendered minimum twenty years of service and those employees governed by the ‘Mizoram New Defined Contributory System, 2010’ may seek for voluntary retirement under the scheme.
There are about 45,000 to 50,000 government employees in Mizoram.