Male teachers asked to send photos as attendance proof can't claim privacy violation: Madhya Pradesh High Court

The Madhya Pradesh High Court recently dismissed an appeal moved by two primary school teachers against a circular requiring them to send a geo-tagged photo from their school to District Education Center via WhatsApp as proof of their attendance [Mahesh Kumar Koli and Another v State of Madhya Pradesh and Others]..The Bench of Justice Anand Pathak and Justice Hirdesh rejected the privacy concerns in respect of male teachers and imposed a cost of ₹2,500 each on the two teachers. “Appellants are male teachers therefore, they are not affected by the privacy issue,” the Court observed.However, the Court acknowledged that photographs sent by the female staff over WhatsApp may be misused by the miscreants. Accordingly, it directed that they be permitted to send photographs of the campus or office of the principal, treating it to be proof of attendance.“Since every smart phone carries META-DATA, therefore, Control Room would decipher actual presence of that staff on the basis of META-DATA,” it added..The Court also asked the State to come up with an application to address the privacy concerns."Just as a food for thought, this Court expect from the respondents/ Department especially the Department of Information and Technology, Government of M.P. (MAP-IT) that it would come out with a tangible solution by way of creating an 'APP' or amending the already existing 'APP' so that privacy of the female staff and girl students can be protected and at the same time, attendance of the teachers whether male or female must be ensured so that they would regularly appear in the school and impart education to the students," the Court said. .The Court said the CEO of Vidisha Jila Panchayat had issued the circular in November 2024 as teachers at times do not attend schools.“This is very common that many a times (not always), teachers of primary school take their job causally regarding imparting education whereas they are Builders of Nation and they have to teach and train the new generation for posterity. Indeed, they are over burdened with their work like election duties, census and health related surveys etc., but their main/ basic job is to impart education to the students, therefore, if their attendance is tried to be ensured by the respondents/ department by way of technology as referred in the circular dated 28/11/2024, then it ought to be a welcome step rather than a point of adjudication,” it remarked..The Court also observed that Article 21A of the Constitution of India (Right to Education) mandates the State to provide free and compulsory education to all the children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may determine.“Therefore, it is solemn duty of teachers specially working in primary school to ensure imparting of education to the students of this age group to achieve Right to Education of these children. This dispute is to be seen from this vantage point also. Therefore, if attendance of the teachers is not ensured by the respondents and if proxy teachers are continued to work on behalf of regular appointed teachers, then it would be a mockery of the education and defeat of constitutional Provisions,” it added..Thus, the Court said there was no element of arbitrariness or illegality in the circular as it was aimed at ensuring the presence of teachers. The Court also flagged the issue related to presence of proxy teachers in schools and asked the government to look into it.“It is a practice adopted at many places by the teachers. The State Government is directed to ensure that such practice of proxy teachers be stopped immediately so that teachers who are appointed to impart education to students would stick to their work only, rather than doing any mischief. If any teachers is found involved in such practice then suitable civil/service and criminal action shall be ensured against such teachers as well as the person who is imparting teaching on behalf of said appointed teacher,” the Bench ordered..Advocate K Kartikey appeared for the appellant-teachers.Senior Advocate Vivek Khedkar and Additional Advocate General Deependra Singh Kushwaha represented the State.[Read Judgment]