They went on a TN tour, but claimed OOD for lit meet

More than a 100 teachers from the taluk have submitted fake attendance certificates to the Education Department, stating that they had attended the three-day 79th All India Kannada Sahitya Sammelana held in Bijapur recently, even though only 23 of them had been to the literary meet.

The teachers who did not attend the meet obtained an unfilled attendance form for the Sammelana, given out by the Sahitya Parishat, took photocopies of the same, entered their names and other details in them and sent them to the department, seeking on official duty (OOD) leave and related benefits.

Teachers from Banasandra, Muniyuru and Lokammanahalli clusters are among those who submitted the fake attendance forms to the Education Department. There is enough evidence to prove that these teachers did not attend the Sammelana. They all left in a KSRTC bus (KA-06, F-859) on February 5 to MM Hills in Chamarajanagar district, besides places of tourist interest in Tamil Nadu like Bhavani, Palani, Madurai, Kanyakumari, Rameswaram, Thanjavur, Srirangam and Vellore.

They all returned from the tour on February 12. Another private bus had taken the teachers to Mayasandra and other tourist places. The teachers who have submitted fake attendance certificates at the Sammelana should be considered absent from duty for the days they did not attend school and action should be initiated against them, Taluk Kannada Sahitya Parishat president S Devaraj has said, in his complaint to the Block Education Officer.