Calcutta High Court Cancels Appointment Of 36,000 Primary School Teachers

The Calcutta High Court has ordered the dismissal of 36,000 primary school teachers who were “illegally appointed” in 2016. 

Justice Abhijit Ganguly, who had earlier ordered the CBI to probe the cash-for-jobs scam in the school education department, ordered the state government to recruit qualified candidates through a transparent, merit-based process within three months to fill up these 36,000 posts of primary school teachers. 

Justice Ganguly also ordered that the 36,000 primary school teachers who are being dismissed from service will function as para-teachers for the next four months till the recruitment process is over and new full-time teachers have been appointed in their place. 

Justice Ganguly said that thousands of untrained and unqualified candidates were recruited as primary school teachers on the basis of recommendations in 2016. He had earlier remarked that the entire panel of primary school teachers appointed in 2016 was “corrupt”. 

Justice Ganguly had ordered the termination of services of 59 primary school teachers for having secured their jobs illegally or by using unfair means on 5 January this year. 

On 4 January, he had ordered the termination of services of 143 primary school teachers. Before that, on 23 December, he had cancelled the appointments of 53 primary school teachers.  

But on Friday (12 May) ordering the cancellation of services of 36,000 primary school teachers is the highest in recent judicial history and is bound to have widespread repercussions in Bengal.