Tripura govt receives set back in High Court

Rejecting the state government's petition against the decision, the bench comprising Chief Justice Akhi Abdulhamid Kureshi and Justice Arindam Lodh directed to reinstate all the five teachers of Agartala Govt Medical College (AGMC) by February who had been transferred to different periphery hospitals of the state in August last year in a motivated decision.

The state government had deputed five teaching faculties of AGMC to different government hospitals violating the rule of Tripura Medical Education Service. Challenging the decision the five faculty members - Dr Rupali Choudhury, Dr Anindita Datta, Dr Minakshi De, Dr Hiranmoy Dey and Dr S K Jamatia had moved the high court seeking justice.

After hearing the case, Justice Subhashis Talapatra cancelled the order and termed it arbitrary. "The court made it clear that the shortage of doctors would not provide adequate character to meet the requisite of health exigency for exercising power under Tripura Medical Education Service Rule 21 2015," the court order had stated.

The court, however, had said that the authority might issue temporary transfer or deputation of the member of the Tripura Medical Education Service for a very limited period and that it cannot be open-ended but definite having nexus to the exigency for which such order is considered to be made.

The state government had challenged the order in division bench which upheld the decision of the single bench and also directed the government to resettle the aggrieved teachers on their respective posts in the medical college by February.

The same bench also rejected the modified affidavit of the state government regarding regularisation of services of the teachers engaged under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) in the education department.

The court found contradiction in the statement of the government over the recruitment of those teachers in two affidavits which annoyed the judges.

In the first occasion last week, the state government had submitted in the high court that the SSA teachers lacking requisite professional qualification had been recruited and government would consider regularisation of their service only when they obtain the required professional qualification like B Ed and D El Ed, but later the government changed its stand.

In the latest affidavit, the government stated that the recruitment of SSA teachers was done only through walk-in-interview and their jobs were given under a scheme. So, it was not possible to regularise their services in the situation. Government's contradictory statements had made the judges unhappy and the bench rejected the last affidavit. The court has given three weeks time to the government for submitting the document in support of their first statement.

However, advocate general and the then advocate of the SSA teachers Arun Kanti Bhowmik said that during the left front government a petition was filed in the High Court seeking regularisation of service of the SSA teachers. In many states SSA teachers have been regularised, but the previous government did not take initiatives even though they received money from the Centre.