Calcutta HC's new bench to hear on irregularities in recruitment of 32,000 primary teachers

Earlier, the matter was allotted to the division bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Smita Das for hearing.

However, on Monday, Justice Sen recused from hearing the matter on personal grounds.

The matter was referred back to the Calcutta High Court's Chief Justice T. S. Sivagnanam, and finally, the latter has allotted the matter for hearing at the new division bench headed by Justice Chakraborty.

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.

To recall, 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.

The state government challenged that order at the division bench, and the matter was referred to the bench headed by Justice Sen. Now, with Justice Sen having recused from hearing the matter, the case has been referred to the bench headed by Justice Chakraborty.

Last week, the Supreme Court division bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar upheld an earlier order by Calcutta High Court's division bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Shabbar Rashidi to cancel a total of 25,753 appointments made by the West Bengal School Service Commission.

The Apex Court's division bench also accepted the argument of the earlier observation by the Calcutta High Court's bench that the entire panel had to be cancelled because of the failure on the part of the state government and the commission to segregate the "genuine" candidates from the "tainted" ones.