Teacher hire stay lifted, with rider

KOLKATA: Justice Debashish Kargupta of Calcutta high court on Monday vacated the stay issued by the court on recruitment of secondary teachers by the School Service Commission (SSC).The court, however, stipulated some conditions on the SSC while hiring teachers. The commission may continue its process of appointing teachers, but should specify in each appointee's appointment letter that the appointment is subject to the outcome of the writ pending in HC, the single bench ordered while lifting the stay. Responding to the writ filed by Ruma Das and 29 other candidates for secondary teaching jobs, the court had on January 27 stayed hiring of teachers by the SSC on the allegation that the commission had violated an HC order dated April 8, 2013. In that order, the HC had directed the SSC to prepare separate lists of trained and non-trained candidates qualifying in its exam for appointment of secondary teachers. This is in accordance with guidelines of the National Council for Teacher Education. In a hearing on the case after the January 27 stay order, advocate general Bimal Chatterjee produced documents showing merit lists of trained and non-trained SSC exam qualifiers which were published online. While lifting the stay, the court observed that it was satisfied with the SSC's compliance with the April 8, 2013 order. So far, 27,000 secondary teachers have been appointed out of 46,000 qualifying candidates. The final hearing will come up after four weeks.