Previously, the Calcutta High Court upheld the constitutionality of a modification to the West Bengal School Service Commission Act that allowed the state to effectively transfer a teacher from one aided school to another.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court requested the West Bengal government’s answer to a petition contesting the retroactive application of a statute enabling the movement of public school teachers within the state. [Secondary Teachers and Employees Association and others vs. West Bengal State and others]
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia issued notice to the State, including a request for a stay of proceedings.
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi represented for the petitioner, the Secondary Teachers and Employees Association, and contended that school teachers’ terms and conditions of employment cannot be amended in a harmful manner.
He went on to say that under the law in question, transfers were not confined to a district but could occur anywhere in the state.
The panel was considering an appeal from July that challenged a Calcutta High Court verdict that affirmed the constitutionality of a 2017 revision to the West Bengal School Service Commission Act of 1997.
The modification added Section 10C to the 1997 Act, giving the State government the authority to direct the School Service Commission (SSC) to transfer a teacher from one aided school to another.
The High Court division bench of Justices Harish Tandon and Prasenjit Biswas declined to accept the premise that such transfers would violate the teachers’ right to life.
The High Court stated that if people were allowed to file such challenges in any transportable service, then every transferred individual may claim that their dignity has been compromised and that they are entitled to enjoy a stress-free life.
The High Court reasoned that overturning the statute would result in a situation in which no employees in public service may be transferred from one location to another.
The High Court also rejected an argument that once a teacher is assigned to a school of their choosing, he or she cannot be transferred to another school.
The concept of indefinite appointment in schools has increasingly weakened, and such employment is public, but not cadre-based, according to the High Court.
Regarding the amendment’s retroactive applicability, the High Court ruled that existing teachers do not have a vested right to the terms and circumstances of their employment.
This prompted the immediate appeal to the Supreme Court.
Name : Pallavi Sethi intern under legal vidhiya.
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