Cuttack: Orissa high court has quashed criminal proceedings against eight teachers for allegedly submitting forged BEd degrees to get jobs as Sikhya Sahayaks (contractual junior teachers) between 2015 and 2018.The eight teachers, who are currently employed in different upper primary schools in Keonjhar district, had done their BEd course from Bundelkhand Universityin Jhansi. Initially, the certificates were claimed to have been forged, inviting termination and subsequent criminal proceedings against the eight. Later, the university confirmed that the certificates were not fake. While the high court, as interim relief allowed them to carry on with their jobs, the criminal proceedings continued. “This court is of the considered view that continuation of the criminal proceedings despite the unequivocal certification of genuineness of the alleged fake certificate by the university concerned amounts to gross abuse of the process of law,” Justice Sibo Sankar Mishra ruled on May 5.Accordingly, Justice Mishra quashed the criminal proceedings against the eight teachers arising out of FIRs registered in different police stations in Keonjhar district in 2020.The collector-cum-chief executive officer zilla parishad (Keonjhar) had appointed them as Sikhya Sahayaks.The district project coordinator (Sikhya Sahayaks), Keonjhar, disengaged them from service on Sept 3, 2021 on the ground that the BEd certificates produced by them were forged. The disengagement orders were based on a communication allegedly received from the university.The university subsequently issued letters on Sept 7, 2020, and Nov 11, 2020, categorically affirming and conveying that the BEd certificates issued by it were genuine. The teachers sought the high court’s intervention in Nov 2021 as their services were not restored even after such clarification.Acting on the petitions, the court as an interim relief stayed the disengagement orders in Jan 2022. Following the interim orders, the teachers were reinstated in service in Feb 2022. But when criminal proceedings continued against them even after reinstatement in service, all the eight teachers again filed separate petitions last June.While disposing of the fresh petitions, Justice Mishra observed, “In the case at hand, the very foundation of the prosecution is rendered baseless in light of the subsequent clarifications issued by Bundelkhand University.”The judge noted that the action of the block education officer in lodging the FIR appeared to be hasty and uninformed and the police investigation, mechanically conducted, ignored crucial exculpatory evidence.