The GTA today filed a case at the Calcutta High Court to challenge
the legality of the state government's move to appoint 46 para-teachers
in 46 schools across Darjeeling district for teaching the Lepcha
language.
The GTA, in its petition, claimed that since the issue of appointment
of teachers in Darjeeling primary schools was a GTA subject according
to the GTA Act, 2011, the state had no authority to make such a move.
"The case is likely to come up for hearing next week," Ayanava Raha, the lawyer appearing for the hill body, said this evening.
The petition claimed that in 2013, the state government had decided
to appoint 46 para-teachers in 46 Darjeeling schools for teaching Lepcha language. Accordingly, on June 3, 2014, the government issued a
notification asking the district magistrate of Darjeeling to start the
process of appointing teachers, the petition stated.
The petition also said that soon after the notification was issued,
Roshan Giri, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha secretary and the GTA executive
member in-charge of school education, wrote a letter to the DM and
requested him not to proceed with the process.
"But the DM, on March 10 this year, started the process of selection
of teachers. That prompted my client to move a case in the Calcutta High
Court," Raha said.
The petitioner sought an order of the court quashing the decision
taken by the state government and allowing the GTA to proceed with the
appointments.
Giri said the state government's move to recruit para-teachers in
primary schools in the hills was a violation of both the GTA agreement
and the GTA Act since school education is a transferred subject. "This
is another instance of the state government's interference in the
subject matter of the GTA by violating both the GTA agreement and the
GTA Act. We will oppose this tooth and nail," he said.(The Telegraph)
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