Hyderabad: City police detained government school teachers and congress party leaders protesting against the Government Order (GO) 317, at the Ranga Reddy Collectorate, on Saturday.
The police detained ten protestors including junior government school teachers and Congress general secretary for Rangareddy district, Narsimha Reddy.
“10 protestors have been detained from the site. Apart from protesting teachers, we have also detained the congress district leader Narsimha Reddy,” informed Saifabad officer Saidi Reddy.
The teachers have alleged that the system that has been forced upon them has discrepancies, where allocation and transfers are not based on seniority and nativity, to the allocated location, rather based on favoritism towards those who have contacts with higher officials.
“Junior teachers decline to accept the government order and have been protesting against it. They have received the support of Congress, for the same. Since protests are a constitutional right, they have only been detained for disturbing the peace, and will be released only after 5 pm, following due procedure,” said officer Khaleel Pasha.
Police personnel and vans have been deployed at the protest site to ensure peace at the collectorate.
The Telangana High Court on Tuesday had refused to put a stay on the GO 317, and the transfers affected by it.
The High Court stated that the case regarding the transfers of teachers to new districts will be subject to a judgment rendered according to a batch of petitions challenging the validity of GO 317. A bench led by Cheif justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili refused to stay the operations of the GO while hearing a batch petition.
The government has been directed to file a counter in its defence. The bench said, “We will pass orders only after knowing the version of the state.”
What is GO 317?
The government of Telangana on December 6, 2021, introduced Government Order 317 dealing with Telangana Public Employment. It has introduced the zonal system for job allotment. This policy was formulated after Telangana was reorganised into 31 districts in 2016. The reorganisation led to the creation of new districts including Asifabad, Bhupalapally, Mancherial, etc.
As per the GO, the District Collector and the concerned Head of the Department in that district will constitute the allotment committee, making decisions regarding jobs and transfers for the district cadre posts.