State panel to probe issuance of NOC to CBSE for affiliation of 25 schools

Imphal: In the wake of CBSE revoking the affiliation of 25 schools in violence-hit Manipur, the state government has constituted a panel to investigate the issuance of No-Objection Certificate (NOC) by unauthorized persons/ officials to the central board.
Ten days ago, joint secretary of Manipur school education department, Anjali Chongtham, in an order, said CBSE had withdrawn the affiliation on the ground that the NOC submitted by the 25 schools from Churachandpur and Kangpokpi districts had not been issued by the authorized functionaries of the state government.
The probe panel, according to an order issued by the same officer on December 22, should submit its report to the state government by January 5.
Director of Manipur school education department, L Nandakumar Singh is the chairman of the inquiry committee, and the department’s additional director (valley), Bisheshwar Khumukcham is the member, while additional director (hills) Dangmei Manglem is the member-secretary.
The terms of reference of the panel is to find out officials “responsible for issuing the NOCs without due process,” “find out if signatures have been forged…,” and recommend appropriate action against responsible officials.
“In case of any evidence of forgeries, appropriate legal action to be taken by filing FIR, etc,” said the order, a copy of which was made available to the media on Wednesday night.
The development concerning affiliation and de-affiliation of these schools came after one Lamtinthang Haokip recently claimed on X that 20 schools from Churachandpur and 16 from Kangpokpi had been affiliated to CBSE.
Reacting to it, the Manipur education department had clarified that no NOC for affiliation to CBSE had been issued by the state government to any institution in the two districts since May this year.
When the post went viral, an official team led by education minister Th Bashanta kumar met the secretary of the Union education ministry and submitted a letter on the matter. As per rules, no educational institution can be affiliated to the central board without the NOC from the respective state government.