Patna, Sep 3 (IANS): A petition was Wednesday filed in Patna High Court seeking a CBI probe into the recruitment of 40,000 teachers who allegedly used fake degree certificates to get jobs in government schools.

Petitioner Ranjit Pandit said he filed the public interest litigation (PIL) as the state government had failed to act against the errant teachers.

"I have requested the court to direct the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate into the matter," he told media persons here.

The petitioner said he has collected documents as evidence through Right to Information (RTI) queries to prove that thousands of teachers used forged degrees to get jobs in government schools in Bihar.

In July, state Education Minister Brishen Patel admitted that over 1,000 teachers used fake degrees to get jobs in government schools.

Patel had said the government will not only sack them but they will be sent to jail for faking their education qualification.

Nearly 2.5 lakh teachers were recruited on contractual basis for Classes 1 to 12 between 2006 and 2011 and 34,540 on a regular basis in 2011-12 after the Supreme Court passed an order in 2010.