The Calcutta High Court set aside the earlier order that removed 32,000 primary school teachers in West Bengal, saying irregularities were found in only a few cases. The ruling protects teachers’ jobs after nine years of service.
A division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday cancelled the earlier single bench order that had removed 32,000 primary school teachers from their jobs in West Bengal. These teachers were selected through the Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) held in 2014.
The division bench, led by Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty, said that it was
“not inclined to uphold the single bench order as irregularities have not been proven in all the recruitments.”
The court also noted that removing such a large group of teachers almost a decade after their appointment would seriously affect their lives.
It observed that
“the termination of employment after nine years would have a great adverse impact on the primary teachers and their families.”
The High Court pointed out that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which had been asked to examine the recruitment process, had initially found problems in 264 appointments.
Later, the CBI detected issues involving another 96 teachers, taking the total under suspicion to 360. Because of this, the bench said that
“the entire selection process cannot be cancelled.”
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The controversy began when a single bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had, on May 12, 2023, cancelled the appointments of all 32,000 teachers, stating that the whole recruitment process was illegal. That order had created massive uncertainty among the teachers and sparked political and legal debate across the state.
The new ruling by the division bench brings major relief to thousands of teachers who had been working for nine years and feared losing their livelihoods.
The court clarified that only those whose appointments were found to be irregular by the CBI will face further scrutiny, while the rest will continue in service.
The judgment is expected to have a significant impact on the ongoing legal and political discussions around recruitment transparency in West Bengal.
It also highlights the court’s view that while wrongdoing must be punished, mass cancellation without specific proof cannot be justified when so many people’s futures are involved.
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