Kolkata, 3 December (H.S.):

In a major relief for thousands of schoolteachers, the Calcutta High Court’s division bench on Wednesday set aside the earlier order issued by Justice (retired) Abhijit Ganguly that had cancelled the appointments of 32,000 primary teachers in state-run and state-aided primary schools.

Delivering the verdict, the bench of Justice Tapobrata Chakraborty and Justice Reetobroto Kumar Mitra observed that removing teachers after nearly nine years of service would have had a severe impact on their families. The court noted that the sweeping cancellation of appointments was not justified.

A total of 42,500 primary teachers were appointed on the basis of the 2014 Teacher Eligibility Test (TET). In 2023, Justice Ganguly had scrapped 32,000 of those appointments citing large-scale irregularities in the recruitment process, and had directed the state government to complete a fresh recruitment within three months.

The state government challenged the order before a division bench of Justice Subrata Talukdar and Justice Supratim Bhattacharya, which granted an interim stay and allowed six months’ time to conduct necessary proceedings. The case later reached the Supreme Court, which eventually sent it back to the High Court for a final hearing.

Coming months ahead of the Assembly elections, the judgment is seen as a significant relief for the ruling Trinamool Congress, which has long faced allegations of corruption in school recruitment.

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Opposition leader Suvendu Reacts

Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari questioned the verdict, defending Justice Ganguly’s earlier decision. He alleged that under the Mamata Banerjee government, “no recruitment examination has ever been conducted transparently.”

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh dismissed the allegations, calling them politically motivated. He said attempts were being made to portray a few “scattered mistakes and offences” as a failure of the entire education system. Ghosh maintained that the government was conducting recruitments transparently, correcting errors wherever necessary, and ensuring that eligible candidates received jobs at the earliest.

He accused sections of the BJP, CPM, and Congress of jointly exploiting the issue for political gains.

It is notable that earlier in March this year, the Supreme Court had cancelled appointments of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff recruited for classes 9 to 12. Since then, controversies surrounding school appointments in the state have intensified.

The latest High Court order brings significant relief in the long-running dispute over primary-level recruitment.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh