School jobs case: Calcutta HC directs Bengal govt to file affidavit on objections to teachers' protests

Kolkata, May 22 (IANS) The Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed the West Bengal government to file an affidavit on why the administration is opposing protest demonstration by teachers, who lost their jobs following a Supreme Court order last month, in front of Bikas Bhavan, the state Education Department headquarters in north Kolkata.

Giving the direction to the state government, a single-judge bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh said the next hearing in the matter will be based on the contents of the affidavit to be filed by the state government.

The next hearing on the matter will be on Friday following which the final order will be passed, Justice Ghosh said. The court also barred the police authorities from taking any action against the protesting teachers during the interim period.

The state government's main objection to protests by teachers in front of Bikas Bhavan is that outsiders, who had been getting involved in the demonstrations, were making the protest violent as was evident on May 15, when a group of protesters went inside the department's campus by breaking open the lock of the main gate.

According to the state government counsel, not just the employees of the state Education Department but also the employees of other state government were facing difficulties in performing their duties.

On the night of May 15, the cops of Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate carried out a baton charge on the protesting teachers, as a result of which many protesters received severe head and body injuries.

Meanwhile, honouring the order given by Justice Ghosh on Wednesday, the protesting teachers against whom the police registered a suo motu case appeared at Bidhannagar North Police Station on Thursday evening for questioning. After coming out of the police station, these protesting teachers claimed that come what may, they would not refrain from the protests.

The main demand of the protesting teachers is that the state government and the West Bengal School Service Commission should immediately publish lists segregating the "untainted" candidates from the "tainted" ones who secured jobs by paying money.

On April 3, the Supreme Court’s division bench of then Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar upheld a previous order by the Calcutta High Court’s division bench of Justice Debangshu Basak and Justice Shabbar Rashidi cancelling 25,753 school jobs.

The apex court also accepted the observation of the Calcutta High Court that the entire panel of 25,753 candidates had to be cancelled because of the failure of the state government and the commission to segregate the "untainted" candidates from the "tainted" ones.

The state government and West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) had already filed review petitions at the apex court on this issue.

--IANS

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