Tripura LoP urges govt to take up 10,323 teachers' termination case at appropriate level

Agartala, Dec 6 (PTI) Leader of the Opposition in the Tripura Assembly, Jitendra Chaudhury, on Saturday urged the state government to take up the matter of 10,323 teachers' termination at an appropriate level for reconsideration.

The CPI(M) leader cited the recent verdict of the Calcutta High Court, which overturned a single bench's order on the dismissal of 36,000 teachers in West Bengal.

Following writ petitions challenging the Recruitment Rules, the High Court of Tripura had terminated the services of 10,323 teachers in 2014, and later the verdict was upheld by a division bench of the Supreme Court in 2017.

"The Calcutta High Court's division bench has set a precedent by overturning the single bench's verdict of dismissing 36,000 teachers. The Calcutta High Court has passed the verdict on humanitarian grounds and did not consider if the teachers were eligible or ineligible as they had performed their duties for many years," Chaudhury said.

Claiming that the recent verdict of the Calcutta High Court has become a topic of discussion in various circles in the state, he pointed fingers at the entire recruitment process conducted by the Trinamool Congress-led government in West Bengal.

"There were allegations that several candidates did not even appear for the recruitment examinations, leading to the termination of 36,000 teachers. But Tripura's situation was different from that in West Bengal," he claimed.

"In Tripura, the High Court had terminated the appointment of 10,323 teachers after the Recruitment Rules adopted by the Left Front government in 1980 were found faulty. Several hundred people employed under the RRs are still working in almost all the government departments, but 10,232 employees lost their jobs because of the court's order," he pointed out.

Chaudhury urged the government to take up the 10,323 teachers' case at the appropriate level for reconsideration in the wake of the Calcutta High Court's landmark verdict.

"Since Chief Minister Manik Saha holds the education portfolio, he can make an attempt for the terminated teachers on humanitarian grounds as many of them have lost their lives and many others are facing severe hardships," he stated. PTI PS ACD