The Calcutta High Court has stayed, for 12 weeks, a single-bench order cancelling the services of 313 primary teachers appointed under the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).
The Jalpaiguri Circuit division bench comprising Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Biswaroop Chowdhury passed the interim order, staying the December 17 ruling of Justice Biswajit Basu, which had quashed the appointments, terming them “illegal”.
During the hearing, the division bench observed that “the context in which they were appointed was not considered” by the single judge, particularly in view of the political unrest in the hills at the relevant time.
Appearing for the GTA, advocate Avrotosh Majumdar submitted that due to prolonged political unrest in the region, regular recruitment processes could not be undertaken. He said the 313 teachers had served for 10 to 12 years as temporary teachers and were later regularised based on a state government notice.
“If their services are cancelled now, it will create serious problems in schools, especially with secondary examinations scheduled to begin in February,” Majumdar submitted. He added that the teachers were qualified and trained, and their appointments were made as a policy decision of the state. “It cannot be said that they were appointed illegally,” he argued.
The counsel for the petitioner, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, contended that appointments could not be made without following a prescribed procedure. The Division Bench asked him to file his objections by way of an affidavit, and also directed other parties to place their submissions on record through affidavits, within a month.
On December 17, Justice Basu had quashed the recruitment of the 313 teachers, holding that the School Education Department had failed to justify the recruitment process and that the approvals granted could not withstand judicial scrutiny. The court had also directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal Police to continue its probe into alleged irregularities.
The teachers were regularised in March 2019 through a letter issued by the then Principal Secretary of the School Education Department, covering voluntary teachers working in secondary and higher secondary schools under the GTA in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts.
In 2023, a writ petition challenged the legality of the appointments, alleging large-scale corruption and violation of established recruitment norms. In 2024, a Division Bench headed by Justice Harish Tandon had upheld an order for a CBI probe into the recruitment process, though that order was later stayed by the Supreme Court.
Earlier, the single bench had also raised concerns over the educational qualifications of some appointees, noting that several lacked the mandatory BEd qualification. The appointments were made despite a 2010 directive barring engagement of volunteer teachers without written approval of the School Education Department.
The GTA had argued before the single bench that conducting a regular recruitment process was not feasible in 2019 due to the prevailing political situation in the hills, a contention rejected by the court.
In April this year, the High Court had ordered suspension of salaries of the 313 teachers.