Teachers scam: Calcutta High Court orders termination of service of 53 primary teachers

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered termination of service of 53 primary teachers in different state-run schools in West Bengal on charges of procuring jobs illegally adopting unfair means or against some consideration.

Earlier in the year, a bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had ordered termination of services of 269 primary teachers on the same grounds. However, these teachers approached the Supreme Court claiming that the order was given without hearing them.

The apex court then directed the same single-judge bench to hear the arguments of these 269 primary teachers. It also directed these teachers to file affidavits on this count.

On Friday, 54 such teachers were supposed to be present before the bench of Justice Gangopadhyay with their respective affidavits, out of whom 53 turned up. After the review of these affidavits, Justice Gangopadhyay ordered the termination of their services of all these 53 teachers. He also slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on the one teacher who failed to turn up and said that after paying the fine, he will have the chance to file his affidavit in the matter.

Leader of Opposition in Assembly Suvendu Adhikari said that this is just the beginning. "Gradually in the coming days the court will order more such termination of services. Gradually the number will rise to over 25,000. Then all of them will assemble at Kolkata and then march towards the Chief Minister's residence at Kalighat demanding return of the money they paid for procuring the services," he claimed.

There was no comment from the ruling Trinamool Congress over the development so far.