When Justice Exposes Failure: The GTA Teachers’ Recruitment Case Beyond the Noise

When Justice Exposes Failure explores the ongoing GTA Teachers’ Recruitment Case and examines it indepth.

The judgment passed by the Calcutta High Court, ordering the cancellation of 313 teachers’ appointments passed in 2019 for the GTA schools, has stirred up debate around the issue that had otherwise remained silent for months. Honourable Justice Biswajit Basu in his order stated, “……..this Court holds that the appointment of 313 voluntary teachers in the name of regularisation, whose particulars have been disclosed in the supplementary affidavit filed by GTA on April 29, 2025 is illegal, accordingly, the impugned letter bearing no. 254-SE/S/4A-1B/15(PT-III) dated March 08, 2019 whereby and whereunder the engagements of 313 voluntary teachers were regularized by the Principle Secretary, School Education Department, Government of West Bengal is set aside and quashed.”

As soon as the order was passed, reactions started flooding from various corners in different directions and intensities. While the GTA Chief pledged his unconditional support towards the affected appointments, stating that it was a fight for truth, justice, and unity, the IGJF founder and president welcomed the decision and called for the immediate constitution of a fair, lawful, and transparent recruitment process.

The Sanyukta Madhyamik Sikshak Sangathan (SMSS), on the other hand, called for an indefinite closure of the Hill Schools in support of the affected appointments. Some members of the BGPM media cell have extended the issue to a greater length by calling it Jasimuddin vs The Hills, trying to portray it as a communal issue rather than a legal one.

This piece is an attempt to dissect the different aspects of the case.

Why now? Is it an Administrative Failure or a Political Disaster?

Many of us are by now aware that the GTA region has not had a proper recruitment process for decades now, and the schools have been getting the teachers through a stop-gap measure of volunteer teachers getting regularised. While DGHC in its time had eventually issued an order for the schools to stop the recruitment of volunteer teachers, it somehow kept continuing later and became the conventional door for entry into the schools as regular teachers.

What is interesting is that though the process has been running through decades and the administrative gap remained as it is, the challenge to any appointment had never reached this far as this time. So, would it be justified to call it an administrative failure? In fact, people in many quarters are calling it a political blunder and a result of massive alleged irregularities in the appointment process that upset and disappointed the people at large.

The allegations point towards the existence of nepotism, favouritism and even bribery involving the appointments that were made. While there are many teachers who were actually working as volunteers at the time for years and actually contributed to the schools and the students, there are allegations that there were people who never even stepped inside the gate of the school getting appointed.

In one such allegation surfacing sometime ago, one of the teachers among the 313, who was allegedly working as a part-time lecturer a local college before he had gotten an appointment, had himself come in front of the media and made a grand display of his certificates and awards to compensate for not having been a volunteer teacher. Besides, there are many such alleged cases where the relatives of some influential people, party favourites and sympathisers, etc., got appointed without serving as a volunteer teacher. It is, in fact, estimated by many that at least around half of the appointments were tainted, if not more than that.

Contrarily, many who had actually worked for years as volunteer teachers across different schools failed to score a spot during the appointments.

The erstwhile District Inspector of Schools, Mr Pran Govinda Sarkar, has also regularly come into the ambit of allegation and suspicion for passing many appointments illegally for reasons best known to him. Allegations also point out that there were people who worked closely with him, some of whose names also appear in the list of the 313. In fact, the High Court, in its order, has also recommended a departmental enquiry against him.

Had the appointments been fairly given, it would not have irked the left-out candidates, some of whom went on to file a case against the recruitment process. That is where the entire legal process had first started and then continued.

The Politics of Victimhood: Is This Really “Jasimuddin vs the Hills”?

In their desperation to garner public sympathy and support, some members of Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) have come out to give a communal colour to this issue by painting it as Jasimuddin vs The Hills. Is it actually so? I would say – Not.

Those who have followed the case since the beginning would know that Jasimuddin was nowhere in the scene when the case had initially started. It was actually a case filed by a bunch of the volunteer teachers who were left out in 2019 when the 313 candidates were given appointments. They later withdrew their case, which most believe might have been because of the pressure they may have been subjected to during the case. It could be fear, threat, persuasion, or any other reason best known to them.

Jasimuddin’s petition was an intervention in the case, which became primary after the former case was withdrawn. Advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya may have chosen a candidate from outside the GTA region to negate the chances of the petitioner backing out due to threats or persuasion. Jasimuddin may not have come to the highlight if the former petitioners had not withdrawn their case. The result, however, may not have been any different in that case either.

Those who have read the judgment would understand that Jasimuddin is nowhere in the central focus of the case. It is entirely about the 313 appointments. Jasimuddin vs The Hills is a coordinated attempt to frame propaganda to stimulate regional and community-based sentiments of the general public in support of the 313 candidates.

Who Truly Suffers and Who Is Responsible?

There is a saying that goes as – the prosperity of one often rests upon the sacrifice of another. The rampant irregularities in the appointment system had to come under scrutiny one day or another. Many of us may see the verdict as a dawn of justice against the corruption and hopelessness that infested the appointment system, and also hope that it brings a proper and transparent system into place. But it is also important for us to realise how the vested interest of a certain group of people has put many other innocent and genuine people’s lives into jeopardy. There are people in the group who have genuinely dedicated their service as volunteers to their respective schools for years without getting any return, some of them for over a decade. These genuine teachers losing their jobs isn’t the sacrifice we deserve to ask from them.

The important question – what are they a victim of? Many would want you to believe that they are the victims of the court order or the petitioners. Nothing could be further away from the truth. They are all the victims of administrative and political failure. They are the victims of the greed and the self-interest of a certain group of people. There is another saying that goes like – “The forest was shrinking, but the trees kept voting for the axe, for the axe was clever and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood, he was one of them.”

Protest or Punishment? Rethinking the Closure of Hill Schools

While the Sanyukta Madhyamik Shikshak Sangathan’s (SMSS) outrage is justified, it is clearly directed in the wrong direction. Why should the students and their parents be the ones to bear the burden of the lapse on the side of the authorities? Many teachers themselves are not in favour of shutting the schools but are complying with the call out of compulsion.

The question should instead be asked of the perpetrators of the irregularities. The right to protest cannot come at the cost of a child’s right to education, especially when the fault lies elsewhere.

Beyond the Verdict: Restoring Trust Through Reform and Accountability

The judgment must not be treated as the end of the matter, but rather as an urgent call for systemic reform. If the administration and political leadership fail to act decisively now, the same cycle of injustice and irregularity will inevitably repeat itself. Immediate measures must be taken to constitute a statutory, independent, and region-specific recruitment authority for the GTA school system, entrusted with conducting fair, transparent, and merit-based appointments.

All existing vacancies must be filled through a lawful recruitment process that ensures equal opportunity for all eligible candidates, particularly those who have genuinely served as volunteer teachers for years. Clear eligibility criteria, publicly notified procedures, third-party oversight, and time-bound recruitment schedules are essential to restore faith in the system.

Equally important is the need for political integrity and accountability. Leaders who preside over such flawed systems cannot escape responsibility by appealing to emotion, identity, or solidarity after the damage is done. Silence during irregularities and outrage after judicial intervention is not leadership. The people deserve answers – who enabled this system, who benefited from it, and why corrective steps were never taken earlier.