Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura

The Tripura High Court has rejected the petition for direct recruitment of 10,323 terminated teachers of 2014. They were hired in 2010 by the left govt and later terminated as their recruitment was done outside the ambit of official rules.

The Tripura High court in its order has sealed its approval of the policy of the state government to recruit these terminated teachers of 2014 in other positions. Some of them had moved to the court for direct recruitment into the positions created. The state govt has decided to conduct an exam where the terminated teachers have been asked to apply. The terminated teachers who pass the exam will be given preference in the positions offered.

However, according to the court, it is not possible to order the state government to appoint people unconstitutionally which will be illegal according to Article 226 of the constitution.

Bijay Krishna Saha, Rajib Das, and Arun Bhowmik, three sacked teachers, had filed a case in the High Court seeking directions to provide Group-C and Group-D jobs ignoring the recruitment policy. The court dismissed their application as illegal. High Court Justice Arindam Lodh further said that the High Court could not give a fresh verdict in the light of the Supreme Court’s verdict.

Tripura High Court Justice Arindam Lodh has made it clear that the court can never order a state government to appoint a person ignoring the established recruitment policy.

Moreover, the High Court has no jurisdiction to issue new orders in the light of the Supreme Court judgment. The Tripura High Court dismissed the petition of the sacked teachers. In that, the last hope of the dismissed teachers is over. The High Court has sealed the policy of the state government over 10,323 teachers’ cases.

Meanwhile, the Tripura High Court’s ruling has made it clear that recruitment of teachers cannot be done in any way by ignoring the recruitment policy.

The Tripura High Court canceled the employment of 10,323 teachers in 2014 due to the wrong recruitment policy. The state government had approached the Supreme Court challenging the verdict.

However, the Supreme Court upheld the judgment of the High Court after a lengthy hearing. Since then, the state government and the terminated teachers moved to the Supreme Court to save the jobs of those 10323 teachers. However, the Supreme Court only allowed their appointment on an ad-hoc basis till March 31, 2020.

The new government also made many attempts to save their jobs in the Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court did not give the verdict in favour. The state even sought permission to dismiss teachers for hiring in new jobs.

In this case, too, the court allowed only age exemption. The state government has recently created employment opportunities in Group-C and Group-D posts. Ignoring the recruitment policy for the post, the three dismissed teachers had applied to the high court to give them a chance to be appointed. However, the court rejected their plea.