Fingerprint tests find that 751 recruited as govt teachers are impersonators

CHANDIGARH: Experts with Forensic Science Laboratory in Madhuban, Karnal, have identified 751 junior basic teachers (JBT) in schools across the state who impersonated in the Haryana Teachers Eligibility Test and were recruited in 2009. Their fingerprints failed to match with those on the answer sheets and HTET application forms.
The report submitted by the elementary education department before the Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday pointed out that the thumb impression of 6,049 candidates were 'non comparable', following which the court has now directed the state government to re-examine all the 6,049 candidates and submit a fresh report before it on May 27.
The report also said that around 390 teachers did not appear before the probe team to submit their fingerprint samples while record of two teachers could not be traced.
Only 1,093 of the total 8,285 teachers selected were found genuine.
In a massive and painstaking exercise, thumb impressions of close to 8,200 junior basic teachers recruited in 2009 were verified by the state education board to identify those who cleared HTET using dummy candidates. Officials of the Elementary Education department and a team of forensic experts had collected samples of their fingerprints and sent them to the forensic laboratory in Madhuban.
The matter had come before the high court in December 2010 after Praveen Kumar and seven others moved a petition before the court seeking orders to verify thumb impressions of all the selected junior basic teachers.