Cuttack: Orissa high court has directed the Bargarh district education officer (DEO) to accept manually property statements of teachers who failed to file them online within prescribed period, allowing them to remain eligible for consideration for promotion.Justice R K Pattanaik passed the order on Sept 21 while disposing of a petition filed by Surendra Bhosagar and six other level-V (B) category-II teachers.The teachers are seeking promotion to level-IV graduate teacher posts in upper primary schools. They claimed they possess the required educational qualifications and have completed mandatory two years of service in the level-V (B) post. The immediate dispute arose over their failure to submit annual property statements through the HRMS portal between Jan 1 and 31, 2026. The teachers apprehended that the omission could prevent their names from being considered for promotion.Their counsel K K Swain submitted that the petitioners were otherwise eligible for promotion and their names had already figured in the final gradation list. He sought permission for them to submit the property returns manually.The state, represented by AGA B P Nayak, submitted that the property statements ought to have been filed by the teachers who were expecting promotion. However, Justice Pattanaik directed the DEO, Bargarh, to receive property statements manually if submitted by petitioners, despite their failure to upload them on HRMS within the designated window.The DEO was specifically directed to accept the statements “without objection” so that the teachers could be considered for promotion “without any hindrance”.The court noted that the Odisha Govt Servants’ Conduct Rules, 1959, as amended in July this year, provide for disciplinary action if property statements are not filed within the prescribed period. However, it found that the petitioners’ non-filing should not prevent their consideration when they claimed to fulfil the other eligibility conditions.The court clarified that its order concerned acceptance of the property returns and eligibility for consideration, while the actual promotion would remain subject to the applicable rules and selection process.