West Bengal : Calcutta High Court Sets Aside A Single Bench Order That Annulled Appointments Of 32,000 Primary School Teachers ; Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Expresses Happiness

The bench, presided by Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty, said it is not inclined to uphold the single bench order as irregularities have not been proven in all the recruitments. The court maintained that the termination of employment after nine years would have a great adverse impact on the primary teachers and their families.

It said that the CBI, which was directed to investigate the matter by the high court, had initially identified 264 appointments in which irregularities took place, following which the names of another 96 teachers came under the agency’s scanner.

The court said that in view of this, the entire selection process cannot be cancelled. A single bench of then Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay on May 12, 2023, had terminated the appointments of these 32,000 primary teachers.

The verdict brought joy and relief to the in-service teachers, who, after the Supreme Court judgment that terminated appointments of nearly 26,000 teachers and non-teaching staff from the SLST 2016 panel earlier this year on grounds of large-scale recruitment corruption, anxiously waited for the high court judgment.

Calling the judgment a “triumph of truth”, the teachers expressed gratitude at the court having “removed the taint that was smeared on them for the past two-and-a-half years” and allowing them to continue in service “with their head held high”.

The judgment, passed barely months ahead of the upcoming state polls, was clearly a shot in the arm for the TMC-led West Bengal government, which is being accused by its political rivals of large-scale corruption.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called the verdict a “humanitarian relief” for thousands of families. “The families of these teachers have been protected. I am happy. It is not right to run to court every time to take away someone’s job,” she added.

“The verdict has proved that our chief minister has always stood by our teachers and will continue doing so,” state education minister Bratya Basu said.

“For the past five years, the education board had been plagued by certain attacks and subjected to motivated campaigns. As the clock is showing signs of turning full circle, we are hopeful the slur will go away, and we will face the next assembly polls with our heads held high,” he added.