In a significant ruling, the Calcutta High Court has struck down the recruitment of 313 school teachers in the Darjeeling hills, declaring their appointments illegal. The court has also directed the West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to persist with its probe into alleged irregularities surrounding the regularization of these teaching positions back in 2019.
Court Slams Recruitment Process, Questions Qualifications
A single-judge bench presided over by Justice Biswajit Basu delivered the verdict on Wednesday. The court firmly stated that the West Bengal School Education Department could not provide a satisfactory justification for the recruitment process. The approvals granted for these appointments were found unable to survive judicial scrutiny.
The controversy revolves around a letter issued in March 2019 by the then Principal Secretary of the state's School Education Department. This communication regularized the jobs of 313 voluntary teachers working in secondary and higher secondary schools within the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), covering the districts of Darjeeling and Kalimpong.
Justice Basu's bench raised serious concerns about the educational credentials of several appointed teachers, noting that many lacked the mandatory Bachelor of Education (BEd) qualification. The appointments were made despite an existing directive from 2010 that prohibited the hiring of volunteer teachers without obtaining written approval from the State School Education Department.
GTA's Defense Rejected, Salaries Already Suspended
During the court proceedings, the GTA administration put forth an argument defending the irregular process. They contended that conducting a standard teacher recruitment drive in 2019 was not feasible due to the prevailing "political situation" in the Hills region.
The High Court, however, dismissed this justification. It pointed out that as per the GTA Act, schools in the area fall under the purview of the state government. The court also noted that during the same period, appointments in other sectors were carried out through regular channels.
The legal challenge began in 2023 when a writ petition was filed in the High Court, contesting the legitimacy of the 313 appointments and alleging large-scale corruption. The petitioners argued that the jobs were regularized without any formal recruitment process, violating established norms and directives.
This is not the first judicial action in the case. Earlier in 2024, a Division Bench comprising Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Madhuresh Prasad had upheld an order for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the recruitment, though this was later stayed by the Supreme Court. Furthermore, in April of this year, the High Court had already ordered the suspension of salaries for the 313 teachers.
A Pattern of Recruitment Scandals in Bengal
This verdict adds to a series of teacher recruitment controversies that have plagued West Bengal. In a landmark judgment in April this year, the Supreme Court canceled the appointment of nearly 26,000 teachers and school staff recruited by the state's School Service Commission in 2016. The apex court labeled that selection process as "vitiated by manipulation and fraud."
However, not all mass appointments have been voided. In a separate case concerning the appointment of primary teachers in 2014, a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court ordered the retention of 32,000 teachers. The court ruled that the evidence on record did not warrant such a large-scale termination.
The latest ruling underscores the ongoing judicial scrutiny of recruitment processes in West Bengal's education sector and reinforces the principle of transparency in public employment.
