India, Oct. 30 -- Cracking down on irregularities in teacher recruitment across Maharashtra, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the state government to constitute high-level committees in every division to investigate private educational institutions that have allegedly bypassed the state's official Pavitra Portal while hiring teachers. The directive comes amid growing evidence of a "systemic and widespread" pattern of schools recruiting teachers privately under the false claim that the Pavitra Portal was non-functional, a practice the court said has "serious ramifications for public accountability", since salaries of such teachers are paid from public funds. The division bench of justices Ravindra V Ghuge and Ashwin D Bhobe issued the order on October 19 while hearing three petitions filed by Sudhagad Education Society from Raigad district and its teachers. Their proposals for regularisation as Shikshan Sevaks had been rejected by the district education officer on the grounds that their appointments were made directly, without using the Pavitra Portal. The petitioner institution argued that the government's online recruitment system was not operational at the time of recruitment and that it had not been given login credentials. However, the education department produced records proving that the Pavitra Portal was functional and that the Society had been allotted a login ID well before the appointments were made. Given the apparent scale of the malpractice, the court directed the principal secretary of the School Education and Sports Department to immediately form three-member regional committees in each division to review teacher appointments. Each panel will be headed by the deputy director of education of the respective region....