Calcutta High Court asks teachers to shift protest venue, restricts participants to 200

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed protesting teachers and other staff of West Bengal government-run and -aided schools, who lost their jobs due to a Supreme Court ruling, to shift their protest venue in the interest of public convenience.

The court also limited the number of participants to 200 at any given time.

Hearing petitions filed by the Deserving Teachers Rights Forum, under whose banner the protest is being organised, and the state government, Justice Tirthankar Ghosh ordered the protesters to move to Central Park in Salt Lake, located opposite Bikash Bhavan, the state's education department headquarters.

The court directed the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation to provide essential amenities, including drinking water and bio-toilet facilities, at the new protest site.

Justice Ghosh allowed a maximum of 200 participants in the agitation at one time, with any additional sympathisers required to notify the police present at the site.

"Police and the members of the forum will make decisions on additional participation through mutual consensus," the judge said, adding that the forum must provide a list of 10 members authorised for such consultation.

Addressing the harsh summer conditions, the court further advised the state to adopt a humane approach.

"If possible, the administration should arrange temporary shelters for the protesters," Justice Ghosh added.

Observing that there had been no complaint of any untoward incident after a scuffle between agitators and police on May 15, the court instructed the law enforcers to go slow on all the accused persons in connection with the incident.

The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education was instructed to refrain from taking further steps related to show-cause notices issued over the May 15 incident.

The matter is scheduled to come up for further hearing on July 4.

Appearing personally before the court as representatives of the forum, two teachers who lost their jobs stated that they were agitating only to put forth their side of the story before the public.

They claimed that the protest had been peaceful all along and none of the agitators indulged in any kind of unruly behaviour on May 15 or on any other date.

Justice Ghosh told them that the court is not asking them to halt their agitation, but only shift the venue for public convenience.

"Everybody has the right to peaceful protest and the court does not have anything to say about it," Justice Ghosh said, maintaining that it is only concerned about ensuring that the public is not inconvenienced.

Earlier, the state government had filed an application requesting the relocation of the protest from in front of Bikash Bhavan, citing disruption to public movement and government employees due to the ongoing demonstrations.

Two petitioners had appeared before police following the court's verbal direction on Wednesday, their lawyer informed the bench.

Justice Ghosh had verbally instructed the state not to take coercive action against Sudip Konar and Indrajit Mondal, who had challenged police notices issued following the May 15 scuffle.

The state's counsel informed the court that notices have been sent to 15 persons in connection with the events during the protests.

While the protesters alleged injuries sustained during a police baton charge on May 15 evening, law enforcement authorities claimed that several of their personnel were also injured during the confrontation.

Nearly 26,000 teaching and non-teaching staff of West Bengal government-sponsored and -aided schools lost their jobs following a Supreme Court order citing irregularities in the recruitment process.