Calcutta HC stays single bench order terminating 32,000 school teachers

The Calcutta High Court on Friday granted an interim stay on an earlier order terminating jobs of around 32,000 teachers in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided primary schools till the end of September or until further orders.

A single bench had on May 12 ordered the cancellation of appointment of around 32,000 candidates who had not completed teacher training when they were recruited as primary teachers through a selection process in 2016 on the basis of Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) of 2014.

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“There shall be an interim stay on termination of jobs till the end of September, 2023, or until further orders, whichever is earlier,” a division bench presided by Justice Subrata Talukdar directed.

The termination of jobs without giving a chance of meaningful right of defence to the affected parties prima facie requires judicial intervention, the bench, also comprising Justice Supratim Bhattacharya said, while passing its interim order on an appeal by the West Bengal Board of Primary Education and some affected teachers.

Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had earlier ordered the cancellation of appointment. Incidentally, days after cancelling jobs of non-trained primary teachers in state-sponsored and aided schools, the court issued a fresh order, correcting the figure to 32,000. The court cited a typo in the old list and said many eligible candidates were listed as ‘untrained’ in the previous list.

(With Agency inputs)