Recently, the Allahabad High Court examined the circumstances surrounding a cancer-afflicted teacher whose plea for transfer was turned down despite an earlier judicial direction to treat her situation with compassion. The matter has now taken a serious turn as the court questioned the approach adopted by the education authorities.
Assistant Teacher, currently posted in Shahjahanpur, is undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer at a medical facility in Ghaziabad. Because repeated treatment requires her to stay near the hospital, she sought a transfer from her present school to Ghaziabad. Her earlier petition had already been disposed of by the High Court with instructions that the authorities decide her request sympathetically, keeping her medical condition in view. However, the Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Board rejected her application, citing a staffing requirement that mandates at least three teachers in schools with twenty-six or more students, while her present school has only two.
The teacher counsel contended that the refusal disregarded the court’s earlier instructions and placed her health at further risk by compelling her to undertake long-distance travel for chemotherapy. She argued that the cited staffing policy was being used rigidly against her despite widespread instances across the state where schools with even higher student strength operate with fewer teachers. The education authorities, on the other hand, maintained that they were bound by the policy norms and that transferring her would reduce the teacher count below the prescribed minimum for her school.
The Court recorded its dissatisfaction with the reasoning advanced by the Board. It noted that the authorities had failed to apply the compassionate approach that the Court had earlier expected from them, especially when dealing with a patient undergoing intensive cancer treatment. The Bench expressed its disbelief that such an inflexible justification was used when similar or even more severe staff shortages in other schools routinely come to the court’s notice. It was observed that administrative rules cannot be interpreted in a manner that disregards basic humanitarian considerations, particularly when the person concerned is facing a life-threatening illness.
Finding the affidavit filed by the secretary of the Basic Education Board inadequate and unconvincing, the High Court directed the official to personally appear before it on the next date of hearing. The matter has been kept pending for further scrutiny in light of the earlier direction to treat the teacher’s case with sympathy.
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