The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) on Tuesday moved a division bench of the Calcutta High Court, challenging an earlier order passed by a single-judge bench that cancelled the appointments of 313 teachers engaged in GTA-run schools across the Darjeeling hills, Kurseong and Kalimpong in West Bengal.
The appeal will be heard at the Jalpaiguri Circuit Bench by a division bench comprising Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Biswaroop Chowdhury. The date for the first hearing is yet to be fixed.
On December 17, a single bench of the Calcutta High Court, presided over by Justice Biswajit Basu, ordered the cancellation of 313 teaching appointments in GTA-run schools, holding that the recruitments were illegal. The court also directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal Police to continue its probe into the matter.
Justice Basu further ordered the immediate stoppage of salaries of the affected teachers, questioning why public funds should be spent on paying salaries to those allegedly appointed illegally. The court also raised concerns over the academic qualifications of the teachers whose appointments were invalidated.
Following the court order, the Sanyukta Madhyamik Shikshak Sangathan (United Secondary Teachers’ Association), representing secondary school teachers in West Bengal, began an indefinite cease-work agitation from December 18 in all GTA-run schools. This move has virtually brought academic activities in the hills to a standstill.
Initially, the GTA had sought to include the State Education Department as a party in its challenge to the single-bench order. However, the department expressed reluctance to do so. The state government’s contention is that the GTA, being an autonomous body, is not necessarily governed by the recruitment rules applicable to state-run schools, including appointments through the West Bengal School Service Commission or the West Bengal Board of Primary Education. As a result, the state felt there were legal complications in becoming a party to the case.
In view of this, the GTA has now decided to independently challenge the Calcutta High Court’s order before the division bench.
