Mumbai, Aug 27 (PTI) An education officer from Thane on Tuesday moved the Bombay High Court seeking a stay on his suspension order in the light of the alleged sexual abuse of two girls at a school in Badlapur, claiming the government order was "politically motivated" and he was made a "scapegoat".

The officer, Balasaheb Rakshe, urged the HC to stay the suspension order pending a final hearing of his petition before the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) which refused him interim relief on August 26. He requested the HC to restrain the state government from appointing any other officer in the post.

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Rakshe's plea, filed through advocates Satish Talekar and Madhvi Ayyapan, will be taken up for hearing in due course by a division bench of Justices A S Chandurkar and Rajesh Patil.

Rakshe had approached MAT for interim relief for a stay on the suspension order which he claimed was arbitrary, discriminatory and malafide.

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The suspension order was "politically motivated" and he was being made a "scapegoat" in the entire episode, his plea stated.

Rakshe claimed he came to know about the sexual assault incident on August 18 and promptly contacted the Ambernath block education officer, asking him to visit the school in Badlapur in Thane district, conduct an enquiry, and submit a report.

The block education officer submitted a report on August 20 following which Rakshe issued a show cause notice to the school president/ secretary/ headmaster. The notice sought the school's explanation on defunct CCTV cameras on its premises, the plea stated.

Rakshe stated he had forwarded the enquiry report to the Director of Education (Primary) in Pune and the Deputy Director of Education (Primary) in Mumbai.

"On August 21, a Committee of Administrators was set up to manage the school in Badlapur. The petitioner also directed the headmasters of all primary, secondary and higher secondary schools to install CCTVs, complaint boxes, and a students' safety committee," the plea said.

Despite taking these measures, the Minister for School Education announced in the media that the education officer of Thane (Rakshe) has been placed under suspension, he stated.

"The petitioner is placed under suspension despite the fact that he is in no way concerned with the regulation and supervision of pre-primary centres," the plea said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)