- Teacher joins, ready to retire too
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Balurghat, Sept. 13: Khagendranath Das has got an appointment letter for the post of a teacher of a government primary school, but with a catch: he is set to retire three months from now.
Das, 59, received the letter from the South Dinajpur district primary school council on September 2 and three days later, on Teachers Day, he joined as a teacher of the institute.
However, it has been a long and arduous legal battle for the 59-year-old, who had been running from the high court to the Supreme Court for nearly three decades. Even though the apex court had ruled in his favour in 2006, it took another prod from Calcutta High Court in August this year for the authorities to sit up and do the paper work.
“I had appealed to the high court because the Supreme Court order had not been executed by the government,” said the newly appointed teacher.
Das and three of his friends had set up Ajodhya Free Primary School, 3km from here and on the outskirts of the town, in 1973. All of them taught there for free. “We thought that once the government gave the school regular funds, we could remain as salaried teachers. All this while, I eked out a living by taking coaching classes,” Das said.
In 1979, the district primary school council (it was West Dinajpur then) recognised the school, but not its teachers. Instead, new teachers were appointed.
“I lost two of my friends while fighting for our rights and the third left the profession and went into business,” Das said.
Mangal Chandra Das and Binesh Debnath, two of Das’s three friends who had helped set up the school, died in the eighties. Das sold off land and a pond left to him by his father to fight the case.
The chairman of the district primary school council, Apurba Sen, said his department had sent the appointment letter in compliance with a court order. “I have nothing more to say,” Sen said.
However, sources in the council said the court had ordered that Das be paid his salary with effect from March 28, 1979, and with all increments and pay commission recommendations during the period. “There was little time to make the calculations. We have told the teacher to bear with us till after the Puja holidays. We are also preparing his retirement papers at the same time,” the sources said.
“I am elated but if the government had appointed me earlier, the money used to fight the case could have been utilised for the institution,” Das said.
The four teachers at the primary school, too, are happy. “We are sad at the same time because Dasbabu will be our colleague for just three months,” said Tapas Saha, the teacher-in-charge.
The other surviving founder of the school, Narayan Das, had visited his friend. “He has asked for my court papers so that he, too, can claim his dues,” Das said.
We see above a practical example of justice delayed is justice denied.
35 years is a pretty long time for meting out justice.
People have to fight the state who have all the financial powers which is actually given by us tax payers.
Why should not the persons who deprived Khagendranath Das of teaching all these years be punished.
It seems that the CPM is mainly responsible for since 1973, they have been ruling uninterrupted in Bengal.It should be made to bear the cost incurred by Mr Das in fighting his case for 35 years.
The CPM was more interested in foisting party members and sympathizers as teachers so how could they allow the founders of the school to be there.
Taking Mr. Das's case as precedent, the High Court should make the government pay compensation to the other founders of the school, whether dead or alive
Our own friend Dilip Roy has been fighting the state government since 1980.
His property was requisitioned for a fire brigade in 1965 under DIR Act.
The DIR Act was withdrawn in 1967 but the fire brigade continued its illegal occupation in spite of Dilip requesting them to vacate it.
Finally he filed a case in 1980.
He got favourable judgments from both the High Court and Supreme Court but the government continued its illegal occupation.
He finally got partial relief in 2001 but has till now not been able to get full relief.
The case is still sub-judice.
Government servants will continue to harass the public unless they are made accountable for their deeds.
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