Calcutta High Court overturns order cancelling 32,000 teachers’ jobs

The Calcutta High Court recently set aside a single judge’s judgment cancelling the appointment of 32,000 primary school teachers in West Bengal over allegations of corruption in the selection process [The West Bengal Board of Primary Education and Anr v Priyanka Naskar and Ors].

The Division Bench of Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Reetobroto Kumar Mitra found that the single judge had made the decision on a writ petition that had not even challenged the appointments, but rather had prayed for directions to provide the petitioners jobs in the existing vacancies. 

“The petitioners have alleged that there had been a scam in TET, 2014, however, nothing has been produced by the petitioners to establish the involvement of any single appellant in such alleged scam. In the writ petition, all the allegations are pertaining to TET, 2014 in which petitioners themselves have emerged to be successful,” the Court noted. 

It added that corruption and scam are severe allegations that need to be established based on proper documents and evidence.

“For the alleged involvement of the functionaries of the State in any illegality, the appellants cannot be made to suffer and a fresh recruitment could not have been directed upon cancellation of appointment of 32,000 teachers,” the Division Bench added.

The appointments had been cancelled by the single-judge Bench comprising Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who has since resigned from judicial service and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He is currently a Member of Parliament. The judgment passed by Justice Gangopadhyay was under stay during the pendency of the appeals against it.

In the judgment delivered on November 3, the Division Bench also said that the  single judge ought to have taken into consideration the fact that the appointees had already rendered service of about nine years. 

“The writ petitioners had admittedly not challenged the appointments made in the year 2017 contemporaneously. In the writ petition affirmed in the year 2022 also there is no challenge against the appointments. Qua them, therefore the matter stood ‘settled’ and about five years thereafter the Court ought not to have directed cancellation of 32,000 teachers which ‘unsettles the settled position’ and such exercise ordered would only lead to anomalous results,” it added.  

The Court further said that it would have supported the wholesale cancellation of the examination if systemic irregularities were there which undermined the process integrity, but added that it cannot be expected to indulge in a roving enquiry.

“In the dispensation of justice, Courts are prevented from innovating at pleasure. Neither can they don the helmet of a 'knight-errant, roaming at will in pursuit of his own ideal of beauty or of goodness'. At all times, Courts are expected to draw 'inspiration from consecrated principles,'” the Division Bench held.

In the present case, the Court found that the assessment of the data did not indicate any systemic cheating. It also noted that even investigating agencies had not found that the appointed candidates were involved in any corrupt practices.

“It also needs to be mentioned that during the period of service rendered by the appellants there had been no allegation regarding the integrity or efficiency of those teachers. It is not a case that instructions were given to the examiners to give higher marks or that the candidates who paid money had been given high marks in the interview. A group of unsuccessful candidates should not be allowed to damage the entire system and moreso when it cannot be ruled out that innocent teachers would also suffer great ignominy and stigma. The service of the appointees cannot also be terminated only on the basis of an ongoing criminal proceeding,” the Court added.

[Read Judgment]