In a significant development, the Calcutta High Court has scheduled to hear the appeals against the termination of approximately 32,000 primary teachers on April 28. This decision comes after the matter was mentioned before a division bench consisting of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Partha Sarathi Chatterjee on Monday.
The appeals, which include those from the West Bengal Board of Primary Education and some of the recruited teachers, challenge a prior ruling by a single bench that called for the termination of these primary teachers’ jobs. The case was reassigned to the current division bench by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam after a previous bench, led by Justices Soumen Sen and Smita Das De, released it on April 7 citing “personal reasons” by Justice Sen.
This legal battle traces back to a decision on May 12, 2023, by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who ordered the cancellation of the appointments. These teachers were recruited in 2016 through a selection process based on the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) of 2014, despite not having completed the required teachers’ training course at the time of their recruitment.
