Our CorrespondentKolkata: A new division bench of the Calcutta High Court will hear on April 28 appeals challenging the termination of around 32,000 jobs of primary teachers in the state.
The matter was mentioned on Monday before a Division Bench of Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Partha Sarathi Chatterjee.
The appeals were assigned to this bench by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam.
The Division Bench said that on April 28 it will hear the appeals by the West Bengal Board of Primary Education and others, including those who were recruited, challenging the termination of jobs of primary teachers by a single bench. Earlier, a Division Bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Smita Das De was scheduled to hear the matter.
However, Justice Sen had recused himself from hearing the matter on personal grounds. In May 2023, High Court’s then single-judge bench of former judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay, had ordered the cancellation of jobs of 32,000 primary teachers in the state. The order was passed acting on some petitions filed by some of the deprived candidates, alleging that many secured recommendations for appointments despite ranking much lower in the recruitment examinations than many of the deprived candidates. A Division Bench had later stayed the single bench order terminating the jobs of around 32,000 teachers in Bengal government-run and aided primary schools.
The Supreme Court had recently upheld an earlier order by Calcutta High Court’s division bench to cancel a total of 25,753 appointments made by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC).
However, the apex court has now allowed the untainted teachers to continue work till state completes fresh recruitment by December 31, 2025.