The secretary of the state secondary education board, Subrata Ghosh, on Monday submitted an affidavit in the high court apologising for not carrying out an earlier order.
The secretary apologised after receiving a summons from Justice Biswajit Basu.
Two years ago, after the death of a schoolteacher in Bankura, his daughter Uma Pramanik approached the school service commission (SSC) for a job on compassionate grounds.
Following her plea, the commission recommended to the board on September 15, 2021, that Uma be recruited as a non-teaching employee at Shaltora Girls School in Bankura.
As the board had yet to give her an appointment, Uma moved Justice Basu’s court last year. The judge ordered the board to act on the SSC’s recommendation immediately.
On Monday, bringing up the matter in Justice Basu’s court, Uma’s counsel said that even after the court’s directive, the board did not give the job to his client.
At this, Justice Basu issued an order asking the board secretary to appear before him on Tuesday. After a few hours, counsel appearing for the board placed an affidavit before the judge.
In the affidavit, the board secretary apologised for his failure to obey the court order.
The secretary also informed the court that the board employees responsible for not complying with the court order had been identified and departmental proceedings had started against them.
Justice Basu accepted the letter.
The judge directed the board secretary to sit with the education department’s representatives and the commission to find out the number of vacant posts of teachers in secondary schools
“Several cases of death-in-harness are pending,” said a board official.
An SSC official said the board had earlier claimed that they did not receive any letter of recommendation from the commission.
“Then we contacted our regional office in Bankura. The office produced copies of the recommendation. We submitted them in the court. The court then accused the board secretary of misleading the court,” said the SSC official.