Darjeeling: A Calcutta High Court verdict has quashed the regularisation and state approval of 313 volunteer teachers appointed under the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), declaring their appointments illegal. The ruling has sparked widespread protests, with teachers’ organisations calling for an indefinite closure of all schools across the hills from Thursday.
Justice Biswajit Basu, in his order, observed that the state government failed to justify the recruitment process and that the approvals granted could not withstand judicial scrutiny. The case originated from a 2023 writ petition challenging the legality of appointments in government-aided schools in the GTA area, allegedly made without any authorised recruitment procedure.
The court noted serious irregularities, including the absence of mandatory B.Ed qualifications among several appointees and violation of a 2010 directive that barred appointment of volunteer teachers without written approval from the school education department. In April this year, the High Court had even sought to freeze salaries of the 313 teachers, questioning the financial burden on the state exchequer.
The Sanyukta Madhyamik Shikshak Sangathan (SMSS) announced an agitation, beginning with an indefinite shutdown of all schools in the Darjeeling hills from Thursday. The organisation said all academic activities would come to a complete halt, including ongoing annual examinations, evaluation of answer scripts, declaration of results, admissions, and scheduled annual school programmes. The organisation warned that if any school defies the bandh call, it would not be responsible for any untoward incident.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the organisation said no recruitment rules for teacher appointments have been implemented in the Darjeeling hills for the past 25 years. It questioned how teachers could be expected to prove eligibility through examinations when no formal recruitment mechanism or SSC examination framework had been enforced during this long period. The body pointed out that voluntary teachers have been solely responsible for sustaining the hill education system during these years.
The organisation said the process of appointing voluntary teachers has been in place since 2002 and maintained that the issue was not due to any fault of teachers, but stemmed from administrative mismanagement. It held successive administrations, including the former DGHC, the present GTA, and both the state and central governments, responsible for the situation. “Teachers should not be made to pay the price for these failures, nor should the hill education system be allowed to collapse,” said Vivek Chhetri, vice president of SMSS. GTA chief executive Anit Thapa said the situation had arisen due to the absence of clear recruitment rules in the hills for the past 25 years and not because of any fault of the teachers.
“Voluntary teachers have sustained the hill education system for decades. I stand firmly with them, and we will pursue this matter legally, even up to the Division Bench or the Supreme Court if needed,” stated the GTA Chief.
Meanwhile, Indian Gorkha Jansakti Front chief convener Ajoy Edwards welcomed the judgment, calling it a landmark step towards cleansing the recruitment system. “These 313 posts must now be filled through a transparent, merit-based process,” Edwards said, while demanding accountability for those responsible for what he described as a corrupt recruitment network.