Justice Rajasekhar Mantha of Calcutta High Court on Monday directed the Bengal education department to cancel the appointment of Siddiqui Gazi, a mathematics teacher for classes IX and X at a government-aided school, for allegedly obtaining the job based on an illegal recommendation letter.
Justice Mantha has been assigned to hear cases related to alleged irregularities in recruitment of teachers and other employees for schools, instead of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the court.
The high court had on May 20 ordered the Cooch Behar district inspector of schools to sack Ankita Adhikary, daughter of minister Paresh Chandra Adhikary, as assistant teacher at a government school where she was appointed through the School Service Commission two years ago.
On Monday, Anup Gupta, an aspiring candidate for a teacher’s job, moved a petition before Justice Mantha alleging that Gazi’s rank was far below his on the merit list but he still got the job.
Gupta’s lawyer, Firdaus Shamin, told the judge that his client’s merit list rank was 200 and Gazi’s was 275.
“Even then, Gazi got the appointment,” Shamin said.
The Chief Justices of high courts change the jurisdiction of judges at regular intervals. Following the practice, the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice handed the cases related to alleged irregularities in recruitments by the SSC to Justice Mantha.
According to the rules, partially heard cases, including seven important cases where orders for CBI investigations were issued, will continue to be heard by Justice Gangopadhyay.