The high court on Thursday removed the principal of Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College on the grounds of not having the academic qualifications mandated by the UGC.
Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay also suspended a college teacher on the same grounds.
The deposed principal, Sunanda Goenka, and the suspended teacher, Achina Kundu, have been barred from entering the college from Friday.
“They don’t have the UGC-specified academic qualifications. Therefore, this action has been taken,” Justice Gangopadhyay said. “If they could satisfy the court that they are eligible to work, they could be reinstated.”
Justice Gangopadhyay ordered the police to seal the principal’s room.
The court appointed lawyer Arka Kumar Nag, who was representing the state government, as special officer in the case.
Manik Bhattacharya, a former president of the state primary education board who was arrested by the CBI in October in connection with the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teachers in the government-aided primary schools, had headed the college.
Goenka succeeded him in 2015.
A former student had filed a petition alleging that Bhattacharya was instrumental in appointing these “undeserving” candidates.
A lawyer not connected with the case said UGC rules specify that a candidate who has not qualified in SET (State Eligibility Test, conducted by the college service commission) or NET (National Eligibility Test, conducted by the UGC) cannot be appointed as principal.
Goenka had taught at Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College from 1998 to 2014, before taking over as principal in 2015.
Bengal has over the past year witnessed the termination of the services of hundreds of teachers in government-aided schools on the grounds of irregularities in appointments. But the removal of a college teacher for a similar reason was unheard of.
“This goes to show that the practice of recruiting underqualified teachers existed even before the Trinamul Congress had come to power in 2011,” said Pankaj Ray, principal of Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri College, which shares the same campus as the law college.
Achina Kundu, too, was appointed when the Left Front was in power, Ray said.
The petitioner also alleged that the college had become a den of criminal elements during the tenure of the deposed principal.
Justice Gangopadhyay asked the police to present those elements in the court by October 9. He asked the police commissioner to look into the issue.