Bengal primary teachers' recruitment case: First hearing by HC's new division bench on April 28

Kolkata, April 21 (IANS) The first hearing in the case of irregularities in primary teachers' appointment made by the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) will be held by a new division bench of the Calcutta High Court on April 28.

The matter was earlier being heard by a division bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Smita Das, with the last scheduled date of hearing on April 7. However, the matter was not heard on that day since Justice Sen recused from hearing the matter on personal grounds.

Thereafter, the matter was referred back to the office of the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice T.S. Sivangannam, which referred the matter to the division bench headed by Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty.

Now, as per the roster of the Calcutta High Court, the first day of hearing in the matter by Justice Chakraborty’s bench has been scheduled for April 28.

The fate of around 32,000 primary teachers appointed by the WBBPE, who are attached to different state-run schools in the state, is at stake in the case.

To recall, in May 2023, Calcutta High Court’s then single-judge bench of erstwhile Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who is currently a BJP Lok Sabha member, ordered the cancellation of jobs of 32,000 primary teachers in the state.

Gangopadhyay passed the order acting on some petitions filed by some deprived candidates alleging that many secured recommendations for appointments despite ranking much lower in the recruitment examinations.

The state government challenged that order at the division bench, and the matter was referred to the bench headed by Justice Sen. And now, with Justice Sen having recused from hearing the matter, the case has been referred to the bench headed by Justice Chakraborty.

This case on irregularities in primary teachers in state-run schools is very crucial for the state government since the number of people whose fates are at stake is much bigger than the number of second and higher teachers and non-teaching staff in Group C and Group D categories appointed by West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), whose jobs were cancelled by a division bench of Supreme Court earlier this month.

The Supreme Court division bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, earlier this month, upheld an earlier order by Calcutta High Court’s division bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Shabbar Rashidi to cancel a total of 25,753 appointments made by the WBSSC.

The apex court’s division bench also accepted the argument of the earlier observation by the Calcutta High Court’s division bench that the entire panel had to be cancelled because of the failure on the part of the state government and the commission to segregate the “genuine” candidates from the “tainted" ones.

--IANS

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