Agartala, Sep 26, 2023, TRIPURATIMES Desk

Agartala Sept 26: Putting an end to the repeated approach of 10,323 teachers seeking clarification regarding the ‘termination of services’, the full bench of Tripura High Court headed by Chief Justice A K Singh on Tuesday dismissed the plea made by one of the sacked teachers and also imposed a hefty fine of Rs 25,000.

It is for the first time in the history of Tripura that the full bench comprising Chief Justice A K Singh, Justice T Amarnath Goud and Justice Arindam Lodh sat for a case and the entire proceeding of the court was streamed live.

Pranab Deb, one of the 10,323 teachers’ argued that he was not a party in the petition in which the High Court scrapped the recruitment rules on the basis of which the appointments were given by the then state government.

Besides, Advocate Amrit Lal Saha argued that his client, Pranab Deb was terminated without any individual notice.

Addressing the reporters in this context, Advocate General Siddharth Shankar Dey said, “The hearing was held to address the plea made by one of the terminated teachers who questioned the process of termination. The petitioner claimed that he was not a party in the case where the recruitment rules were challenged”.

The Advocate General further said, “The state government cannot be blamed for this at all. As it is the state government that moved the apex court seeking solution to the issue and on that basis the teachers could be at service till March 2020 on ad-hoc basis”.

“Later, complying with the deadline given by the Court that mentioned that the teachers cannot be kept in service after March 2020, the state government issued a memorandum mentioning the termination of all”, he added.

The Advocate General mentioned here that no question of serving individual termination letters arises as the state government did not sack the teachers directly but in accordance with the Court’s order.

Here, taking a note of the episodial petitions in the courts, all of similar kind, seeking clarification despite clear orders the High Court used the term ‘despicable’.

“During the earlier judgement by the Supreme Court the 10,323 teachers were terminated from services on May 7, 2014 because the Court found unfair means in the recruitment process and deprivation of genuine aspirants. Therefore, the petitioner had nothing new to say before the Court”, said the Advocate General.

The full bench of the High Court therefore dismissed the plea and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on the petitioner for wasting crucial judicial time.