New Calcutta HC bench to hear Bengal primary teachers' recruitment case from next month

Kolkata, April 28 A new division bench of the Calcutta High Court will resume hearing in the case on irregularities in the recruitment of primary teachers in different state-run schools in West Bengal, whose appointments were given by the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE), from May 7.

The matter came up for hearing for the first time at the division bench of Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Reetobrata Kumar Mitra on Monday.

After a preliminary hearing on the matter, the division allotted May 7 as the first date for a detailed hearing in the matter.

Justice Chakraborty also directed that the first submission in the matter on May 7 will be done by the counsel of the WBBPE. He also directed all parties concerned to submit all the necessary documents, legally termed a "paper-book", pertaining to the case before May 7.

Earlier, the matter of irregularities in the recruitment of primary teachers was heard by the division bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Smita Das. However, since Justice Sen recused from hearing the matter further earlier this month, the matter was referred to the new bench of Justice Chakraborty and Justice Mitra.

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

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 than many of the deprived candidates.

The state government challenged that order, and the matter was referred to the division bench headed by Justice Sen. With Justice Sen having recused from hearing the matter, the case was referred to the bench of Justice Chakraborty and Justice Mitra.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor