HC dismisses order to reconstruct teachers’ panel in PTTI issue

The Calcutta High Court has dismissed the previous order of teachers’ recruitment on Friday. The order which was given by single Bench of the court in 2009 to reconstruct the panel of the teachers – recruited for primary schools of the state – was dismissed on Friday by the division Bench.

In 2009, the single Bench of Justice Debanshu Basak has ordered the reconstruction of the panel as some teachers had moved a petition in High Court. The teachers’ lawyers said even if they haven’t got 22 extra marks – they should be given for having primary teachers’ training certificate.

The single Bench order the restructure of the panel led to the uncertainty of job for some teachers who had got the job in the initial list. Those teachers, who don’t have primary teachers’ training degree, are now feeling content on Friday, as the court has dismissed the single Bench order.

The division Bench of Justice Soumitra Paul and Mir Darasiko has order the panel released in 2009 as authentic, dismissing the single Bench order to reconstruct the panel again.

However, a few months ago, while hearing a petition moved by Tumpa Ghosh from Burdwan, Justice Biswanath Somaddar passed the judgment. The petitioners had said that West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) used to grant a 22 marks grace to PTTI certificate holders till the High Court declared the training institute illegal on October 1, 2008.

The petitioners argued that though the court had ordered the certificates issued in 2005 and 2006 were invalid, the state government was refusing to accept certificates issued between 1998 and 2004.

Even the WBBPE was not giving the grace of 22 marks to the candidates. Tumpa and many other petitioners did not get job as grace marks were not given to them.

The petitioners’ counsels said that they had applied for the jobs as primary teachers after the assurance of getting the grace marks. The court had then directed state to treat Ghosh and the other petitioners as ‘special category’ candidates and grant them grace marks as their certificates were issued before 2004.