Chandy flays opposition over headmistress' transfer

Thiruvananthapuram, June 26 (IANS) Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Thursday flayed the Left opposition for criticising his government over the transfer of a school headmistress who is a Dalit.

"You have been unnecessarily raking up the issue of a headmistress' transfer by frequently referring that she is a Dalit. Please don't try to rake up this issue as a communal one," an angry Chandy told the opposition in the house.

The transfer of headmistress Urmila Devi of Cotton Hill Girls School here early this week has for the past two days created a ruckus both inside and outside the assembly.

The Left opposition walked out of the house in protest Thursday.

The row began when the headmistress is understood to have mentioned state Education Minister P.K. Abdu Rabb's delay in reaching a school function during her speech at the same event June 16.

A day later, a section of the media reported how the minister was treated poorly. Consequently, a probe was ordered by the state government and it recommended strong disciplinary action against the headmistress.

"You should please understand it was after the headmistress assumed office, the results of the school were excellent. She is a cancer patient and you should have shown a humanitarian attitude towards her," said Achuthanandan.

"... You took vindictive action by transferring her," he added.

In response, Chandy said when the Left was in office 2006-11, they took the extreme step of suspending a college principal and the head of department just because they spoke indifferently to a legislator.

"Please understand the probe that was ordered against the headmistress said she should be suspended, but we just transferred her to another school. She can go in appeal against this with the appropriate authority," Chandy said.

Meanwhile, the headmistress approached the State Administrative Tribunal and requested for an order to suspend her transfer, which was refused.

The state government informed the tribunal that all the steps taken were as per law.

The media has been having a free run on this issue with editorials and numerous debates on nearly dozen TV channels.