In the WBSSC job case, a group of ‘untainted’ teachers who lost their jobs after the Supreme Court’s ruling have approached the Calcutta High Court, alleging that Bengal Police are harassing them despite the apex court’s order.
A group of “untainted teachers” from state-run schools in West Bengal, who lost their jobs due to a Supreme Court ruling that cancelled 25,753 teaching and non-teaching positions in April, approached a single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court.
They accused the state police of harassing them in violation of the apex court’s order.
These teachers have been protesting for over a month with a sit-in demonstration near the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) office in Salt Lake, Kolkata.
Previously, the Calcutta High Court had instructed that no coercive actions could be taken against the protesting teachers by the Bidhannagar City Police while a case against them was pending.
This case involved allegations of ransacking the WBSSC office earlier this year.
However, on Friday, the counsel for two of the protesting teachers, Chinmay Mondal and Sangeeta Ghosh, brought to the attention of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh that, despite the court’s clear directives, the police continued to issue notices to them.
Justice Ghosh noted that those “untainted teachers receiving such notices could challenge them by filing individual or joint petitions through their counsel.”
The counsel also requested that the court dismiss the main FIR against the protesting teachers regarding the alleged ransacking. Justice Ghosh responded that any hearing on the matter would take place only after proper petitions were submitted and notices served to all parties involved.
In addition, the “Jogyo Shikshak-Shikshika Adhikar Mancha” (Genuine Teachers’ Rights Forum), the organization leading the protests, announced plans for a “March to the State Secretariat of Nabanna” on July 14.
Earlier, On April 3, a Supreme Court bench led by then Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna upheld a prior Calcutta High Court ruling that invalidated the 25,753 school appointments made through the WBSSC, stating that the panel had to be entirely scrapped due to the authorities’ inability to differentiate between “tainted” and “untainted” candidates.
The state government and the WBSSC have since filed review petitions in the Supreme Court to reconsider this order.
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