December 24 (Siliguri Chronicle) – A division bench of the Calcutta High Court’s Jalpaiguri Circuit Bench on Tuesday heard an appeal challenging the termination of services of 313 primary teachers appointed under the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) in the hills.
The teachers’ appointments were recently cancelled following an order of Justice Biswajit Basu. Aggrieved by the ruling, the affected teachers moved the division bench seeking a stay on the single bench order.
The matter was heard on Tuesday by a division bench comprising Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Biswaroop Chowdhury. After hearing arguments from all sides, the bench reserved its judgment, which is scheduled to be delivered on Wednesday.
Over the years, several “voluntary teachers” were appointed in hill schools, allegedly without following due recruitment procedures.
In 2019, the state government regularised the services of several hundred such voluntary teachers, prompting many sidelined “genuine” candidates to approach the court.
Earlier this month, Justice Biswajit Basu set aside the appointments and cancelled the jobs of 313 teachers.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Piyush Biswas, counsel for the petitioning teachers, submitted that the appellants had sought a stay on the single bench order.
“The judges heard all sides in detail. The verdict will be delivered on Wednesday,” he said.
The state was represented during the hearing by the advocate general and the additional advocate general.
Additional Advocate General Joyjit Choudhury informed the court that while the state cabinet had approved the regularisation of 427 teachers in 2019, the 313 teachers concerned were not part of that list. He submitted that the cabinet had never taken any fresh decision to appoint or regularise these 313 voluntary primary teachers.
“We are eagerly waiting for the division bench’s verdict to see whether it upholds the single bench order cancelling the appointments or grants a stay on the ruling,” said one of the teachers.
