Patna,(BiharTimes): Over 1,400 primary school teachers have resigned from service in Bihar fearing government ac-tion over possessing fake degrees.

According to a PTI report quoting a senior officer of the education department more such teachers are expected to resign in the coming days after a Patna high court order asked those possessing fake education degrees to quit their jobs on their own to avoid facing legal action.

“A total of 1,400 teachers have resigned from service. More resignations are expected as we have fixed a deadline of July 8 for it. The final figure of those who resigned would be known only after it,” education department principal secre-tary R K Mahajan, was quoted by the news agency.

According to Mahajan action would be taken against teach-ers possessing fake certificates who do not resign within the stipulated period. FIRs would be lodged against them, their services would be terminated and the government will move for recovery of salary and other benefits given to them.

The Patna high court order came through a division bench of Chief Justice L Narasimha Reddy and Sudhir Singh while hearing a bunch of public interest litigation (PIL) filed by activist Ranjit Pandit and others.

The state government had appointed over 3.5 lakh primary teachers and the PILs allege that a large number of them took up the job on basis of fake papers. The state government has asked its vigilance department to probe the education qualifications and has deputed eight deputy superintendents of police and 38 inspectors.

The state government submitted before the Patna high court that it would take at least three to four months to complete the task, which led to the court ordering a time frame under which action would not be taken against those who resign on their own, the report said.