Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday said that the State Government would comply with the Supreme Court’s directive to appoint 34,540 trained teachers within a time period of six weeks.
The move signals the end of a long duel between the government and the trained teachers of the State.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday had directed the Bihar Government to appoint the teachers on the basis of seniority within six weeks as per the vacancies advertised by the erstwhile RJD government on December 10, 2003. The order passed by the Court came during the hearing of Contempt Petition (Civil) no. 297/07, Nand Kishore Ojha vs. State of Bihar.
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The RJD regime had advertised the 34,540 vacancies for both trained as well as untrained teachers, which was ultimately quashed by the Patna High Court who duly ordered the State Government to appoint “only trained teachers” with the aim of breathing life into its moribund educational institutions. On coming to power, the Nitish Kumar government had given an undertaking on January 18, 2006 to appoint trained teachers.
However, the trained teachers had again moved the Supreme Court with a contempt petition against the Nitish Kumar government after it had failed to comply with its undertaking, with the apex court holding the Bihar Government guilty of contempt of court in the case.