The Special Vigilance Court here on Saturday found the former principal of a government aided school in Kollam guilty of manipulating official registers for bogus admissions in order to retain a class division.
Enquiry Commissioner and Special Judge (Vigilance) Rajakumara M.V. sentenced S. Remakumari, former principal of John F. Kennedy Memorial VHSS, Karunagapally, to rigorous imprisonment for seven years and imposed a fine of ₹1.7 lakh. She was found guilty under Section 13 (1)(d) (obtain pecuniary advantage through corrupt of illegal means) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Sections 120B (punishment for criminal conspiracy) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of the Indian Penal Code.
The court found her to have forged documents to create the records of 21 bogus admissions and thereby misled the General Education department by presenting tampered attendance books to retain a division. Division falls occur when there are not adequate numbers of students as mandated by the teacher-student ratio norms. Such circumstances result in the loss of teaching posts.
Loss to exchequer
According to the prosecution led by Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau public prosecutor Unnikrishnan S. Cherunniyoor, the former principal’s illegal act of manipulating documents resulted in the retention of five teachers and caused a total loss of ₹8,94,647 in terms of salary and allowance provided to them.
She was accused of engaging in the illegal act in connivance with former manager Sreekumar K.R. and his wife Kumary Maya, who worked as a teacher. However, Kumary Maya was acquitted after the prosecution failed to prove the charges against her. Sreekumar had died during the course of the investigation. The probe was led by the then Inspector M.M. Jose of the Kollam Vigilance unit.
