Education secy issues charge sheet against three employees of Ludhiana DEO’s office

School education secretary Krishan Kumar on Saturday issued a chargesheet against three employees of the district education officer’s (elementary) office for allegedly accepting bribe from the representative of a private educational institute.

The employees are deputy district education officer (elementary), Kuldeep Singh, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) clerk Amit Mittal and Harvinder Singh, legal adviser, SSA . The education department has given them 21 days to respond to the allegations.

According to the chargesheet, the employees have violated the provisions of Section 8 of the Punjab Civil Service Rule, 1970.

In the chargesheet, the education secretary said that if the employees fail to submit the reply in the given time, then action will be taken according to the rules.

As per the chargesheet, Kuldeep and Harvinder had demanded Rs 70,000 from a private school representative to resolve a complaint.

The incident was reported in 2018 when Atam Nagar MLA Simarjeet Singh Bains allegedly caught Mittal red-handed while taking the bribe.

In a video recording, Mittal said that he was sent by Kuldeep and Harvinder to collect the money, and he was only acting at their behest.

Kuldeep Singh said, “I am yet to receive the copy of the orders and will submit a reply in next few days to the department.”