The controversy over the validity of the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) conducted by the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration in 2021 is veering towards a fight for autonomy between the GTA and the Bengal government.

GTA chief executive Anit Thapa on Thursday said the hill body was ready to approach the court on the autonomy issue following an RTI reply from the Bengal education department that the GTA had not been accorded authority to conduct the TET.

“The GTA will write to the state government expressing its concern on the RTI reply furnished by the education department. However, if needed, I will go to court as this issue concerns the autonomy of the GTA,” said Thapa.

The GTA chief said though he was working closely with the government, he would not hesitate to approach the court on the issue of autonomy.

In response to an application filed under the RTI, a member of the Hamro Party (HP) was told that the West Bengal Board of Primary Education was the competent authority to conduct the TET in all districts of the state and the GTA was not empowered to do so.

The HP and Thapa’s Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) are rivals in Darjeeling politics.

The GTA had conducted the TET exam on February 14, 2021, when Thapa was helming the body.

Following the RTI reply, different camps in the hills have alleged that the TET was “fake” and Thapa had conducted the exam to garner votes in the last Bengal Assembly elections.

Darjeeling BJP MP Raju Bista wrote to the CBI seeking an investigation into the matter. Members of the HP filed an FIR against GTA officials and demanded the refund of examination fees to over 14,000 candidates who had submitted their applications for the TET.

Thapa on Thursday said education was a subject transferred to the GTA.

“The TET is held across the state but has not been conducted in the GTA area (by the state education department),” said Thapa. He was trying to drive home the point that the TET hadn’t been held in the GTA area by the government as education was a transferred subject and the state could not interfere.

Thapa also made public a document to suggest that the secretary of the state school education department had asked the hill body in 2013 to complete the process of recruiting primary school teachers. The same document also states that the executive powers of the District School Board were transferred to the GTA.

The District School Board had conducted the 2021 TET.

Thapa showed another document from the school education directorate in 2022, stating that since the District School Board was with the GTA, the pension issue of a retired teacher should be settled by the education department of the hill body.

“The TET was conducted legally and we will ensure that the process (of publishing the result) is completed.”

Allegations of interference in the GTA’s functioning and non-transfer of powers to the hill autonomous body by the government had been raised when Bimal Gurung of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha was in power in Darjeeling.

In 2015, the GTA stopped the construction of three roads by the North Bengal development department in the hills through a court order.

The GTA also approached the Supreme Court while Gurung was the chief executive over the non-transfer of powers to the hill body. In their equation, Gurung and chief minister Mamata Banerjee used to blow hot and cold.

However, Thapa shares a cordial relationship with Mamata.