Hundreds of BJP supporters held noisy protest at the main city police station in Agartala on Thursday to demand legal action against Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and Education Minister Tapan Chakraborty after Supreme Court upheld order of the High Court of Tripura to cancel job of 10,323 teachers for defective employment procedure.
The Trinamool Congress too announced agitation from Friday to demand resignation of Chief Minister and Education Minister and release of a ‘white paper’ on the entire recruitment procedure of the teachers now facing termination.
Upholding May 7 2014 judgment of the High Court, a division bench of the apex court on Wednesday directed Tripura government to complete fresh recruitment procedure under guidelines of National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) by May 31.
The 10,323 teachers however were allowed to continue in service till December 31 next.
Ruling CPI(M) in a brief statement termed the job termination order of the supreme court ‘gravely inhuman’. It said the order would have adverse bearing on several lakh people and students.
Rejection of the special leave petition (SLP) of the state government in the Supreme Court and termination of jobs of a large number of teachers snowballed into a major political issue in the state where assembly election is slated in less than a year. While BJP already launched agitation, TMC announced it would commence series of stir from Friday.
Slogan-shouting youth wing members of the BJP held a rally outside west Agartala police station limits. The CRPF, Tripura State Rifles (TSR) and armed police contingents were deployed across the city to quell trouble.
A delegation from the protest submitted a memorandum to senior police officers at the police station. "We have demanded arrest of Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and Education Minister Tapan Chakraborty for their involvement in the job scam,” a BJP leader told reporters.
The TMC, BJP and the Congress earlier demanded resignation of the Chief Minister owing moral responsibility in view of Supreme Court order. BJP’s central observer in state Sunil Deodhar said they would move the High Court to seek CBI probe into the job mess.
