Mumbai: Thane education officer Balasaheb Rakshe, who was suspended by the Maharashtra government over the alleged sexual assault on two minor girls by a male attendant in their school premises at Badlapur, has approached the Bombay High Court claiming he has been made a “scapegoat” and that his suspension was “politically motivated”.
Rakshe has challenged the August 26 order of Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) refusing to grant any interim relief to him. He has approached MAT seeking interim stay on his suspension.
His plea before the HC, filed through advocates Satish Talekar and Madhvi Ayyapan, seeks stay on the suspension order pending final decision by MAT. He has also urged that the government be restrained from appointing some other officer in the post.
Rakshe had challenged his suspension contending that the same was “arbitrary, discriminatory and malafide”. The suspension order was “politically motivated” and that he was merely a “scapegoat” in the entire episode, his plea added.
His plea claimed that on August 18 when he learnt about the sexual assault case, he contacted the Ambernath block education officer and asked him to visit the school, conduct and enquiry and submit a report. The block education officer submitted his report two days later, pursuant to which Rakshe issued a show cause notice to the school president/ secretary/ headmaster. The notice also questioned the school as to why their CCTV was not working.
The enquiry report was forwarded to the Director of Education (Primary) in Pune and the Deputy Director of Education (Primary) in Mumbai, Raksha claimed.
“On August 21, a Committee of Administrators was set up to manage the Badlapur school. The petitioner also directed the headmasters of all primary, secondary and higher secondary schools to install CCTVs, complaint boxes and a students’ safety committee,” the plea said.
Despite all this, the Minister for School education announced in the media that he (Rakshe) has been placed under suspension. “The petitioner is placed under suspension despite the fact that he is in no way concerned with the regulation and supervision of pre-primary centres,” the plea claimed. He has said that he has always sincerely adhered to the instructions given to him by his superiors and that he has never indulged in any disobedience or misconduct while discharging his official duties.
The plea will be heard by a bench of Justices AS Chandurkar and Rajesh Patil in due course of time.
