Shahjahanpur/Bareilly, Jan 30 (IANS): Forty-eight FIRs have been lodged in various police stations in Shahjahanpur and Bareilly against teachers who got jobs with fake degrees.

The FIRs have been lodged by the UP Basic Education Department.

These teachers were expelled in 2016 after an inquiry stated they had submitted fake documents to get the jobs. However, no arrest has been made so far.

According to police, the teachers with fake degrees have been booked under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 466 (forgery of record), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document).

Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) (Bareilly) Tanuja Tripathi said: "We have lodged FIRs against who got the jobs with fake degrees. Though they were expelled in 2016, FIRs were not registered then. That is why we filed our complaints now. More teachers with fake degrees were expelled in the past, they got a stay order from Allahabad High Court and were reinstated."

BSA (Shahjahanpur) Rakesh Kumar said, "A total of 42 FIRs, including 12 on Wednesday, were lodged against teachers with fake degrees. Of these 42, 25 teachers were expelled earlier. During a verification drive, it came to light that these teachers had submitted fake documents, including BEd degrees, Basic Training Certificates and Trained Graduate Teacher certificates."

The fact is that the teachers had submitted fake degrees which came to light when officials contacted the respective education institutes for the verification.

Though 48 teachers have been booked in two districts, officials said similar action will be taken against such teachers in other districts.