AGARTALA, April 1 (TIWN): After Supreme Court’s massive blow hitting Manik Sarkar Govt’s 10323 Teachers recruitment scam, Tripura CM and Education Minister Tapan Chakraborty are planning to send legal team before the Apex Court purely with a planned purpose to play ' delay game' till 2018 Assembly elections . It is no doubt that the honesty, transparency and morality of Manik Sarkar & Co bulldozed when the Supreme Court's Division Bench cancelled 10323 teachers' jobs upholding the High Court's judgement given on May 7,2014. The High Court's Division Bench headed by the then Chief Justice Deepak Kumar Gupta categorically termed the corrupt CPI-M Govt's recruitment policy as ' Unconstitutional ' specifically of its policy of "70% Merit Seniority and 30% Need". Communists crafted education system in Tripura is practically crippled.

Even after 24 years of continuous rule in Tripura, Left Front Govt's Education Minister Tapan Chakraborty is shamelessly saying ," At present there is a dearth of qualified unemployed youths in the state to be recruited as teachers following the guidelines of NCTE ." Isn't  it a clear indication of  the state govt's utter failure ?

It is no surprise that over the years appointment in different government departments in Tripura( under Manik Sarkar's regime) has been judged not on the basis of merit and quality but purely on the basis of the recommendations sent by the leaders of CPI-M local committees followed by the final selection of Melarmath leaders.

Supreme Court's judgement came at a time when the Assembly Poll is Tripura will be held in less than one year's time in 2018.

This judgement came as a severe blow for the CPI-M Govt especially to the so-called 'Mr White' Manik Sarkar because this retrenchment will not only create a void in the number of teachers but also it will have a big impact on the political ground.

Already all the opposition parties have demanded Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and Education Minister Tapan Chakraborty's resignation on moral ground . However, CPI-M party denies all such likely steps as it would surely be a Hara-kiri for CPI-M.

There is no denying of the fact that out of 10323 teachers only a few , very few are eligible to appear in the TET examination to be conducted as per the guidelines given in Right to Education Act .

Among the Under Graduate Teachers maximum numbers won't even apply for TET because the state govt recruited them taking Madhyamik Pass as the basic qualification while the RTE Act clearly suggests that minimum qualification for recruitment in Under Graduate Teacher is ," 50% marks in Higher Secondary Examination and 2 years Deploma in Elementary Education " Thus, most of them are bound to loose their jobs after 31st December 2017.

After the judgement given by the Supreme Court Law Secretary Data Mohan Jamatia told over phone to different media ," State Govt may appeal to the Centre for relaxation for those candidates who don't have BEd or Diploma in Elementary Education." Now the question is whether the Centre will give relaxation this time again.

Earlier responding to state govt's request Union HRD Ministry gave one time TET relaxation for recruitment but didn't give any relaxation for qualification. But Manik Sarkar led CPI-M Govt quite  arbitrarily  recruited the teachers violating the HRD Ministry and NCTE guidelines regarding qualification. 

But who are responsible for the ill fate of these teachers ?

It is none other than Manik Sarkar and his trusted officials of that time namely the then Chief Secretary  S K Panda and Principal Secretary of Education Banamali Sinha along with Education Minister Tapan Chakraborty.

Had these acted as per the norms then these 10323 teachers won't have to face today's situation.

And if the state govt now appeal for Review Petition it will certainly be an attempt of playing delay game simply to avoid the politically tough situation ahead of the crucial Assembly Poll of 2018.

Meanwhile, in an exclusive chat with TIWN a top level official( on condition of not revealing the identity)in the Law Department told this correspondent ," Even the former Advocate General Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharjee suggested the state govt to go for compromise with the unemployed deprived youths , who lodged Writ Petition in the High Court challenging the state govt's procedure of recruiting 10323 teachers .

But purely because of his arrogance Manik Sarkar turned down the suggestion given by the Advocate General and carried on with the policy of not giving jobs to those who appeared before the High Court."

From his statement it is clear that it is none other than Manik Sarkar who is responsible for this debacle. And now only the 10323 teachers and their families are heading for terrible future.