The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Tripura government regarding a plea filed by approximately 79 undergraduate teachers challenging their termination orders issued in 2017 and 2020.
The teachers from Tripura contended that their termination orders were “unlawful and unconstitutional.”
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and PB Varale issued a notice to the Tripura government and requested a response to the plea. The petitioners argued that in 2014, a division bench of the Tripura High Court had declared an Employment Policy of 2003 issued by the State government as “bad in law” and invalidated the appointment of over 10,000 teachers made under this policy, leading to their termination.
The teachers questioned the applicability of the 2014 High Court judgment to their services and claimed that they were recruited in strict adherence to the recruitment rules in force at the time, thus not affected by the judgment. They asserted that they were never notified about the High Court proceedings and that the judgment was delivered without their knowledge.
Filed through advocates Amrit Lal Saha, TK Nayak, and Aaditya Mishra, the petition alleges a massive scam perpetrated by the Tripura government. The plea claims that the employment and salary codes of the terminated teachers remain active, causing their monthly remuneration to be debited to the state exchequer and misappropriated by corrupt officials.
The petitioners also revealed that the Principal Accountant General (Addl.), Tripura, is investigating the alleged fraud.
Additionally, the petition highlighted the deteriorating condition of the school education system in the state, with students suffering due to a severe shortage of teachers. Earlier, 700 teachers had also approached the apex court with a similar issue.
