Tripura Undergraduate Teachers Challenge Government Termination Orders in Supreme Court

In a legal development concerning 700 undergraduate teachers from Tripura, they have taken their grievances to the Supreme Court, challenging the termination orders issued by the state government in 2017 and 2020. These teachers claim that the termination orders were "unlawful and unconstitutional."

Under Article 32 of the Constitution, which guarantees the Right to Constitutional Remedies, the teachers have filed a petition. They point to a previous ruling by the Tripura High Court in 2014, which declared the Employment Policy issued by the state government as "bad in law." This ruling led to the annulment of the appointments of over 10,000 teachers, who were subsequently terminated by the state government.

The teachers contest the application of this policy to their employment, asserting that they were hired in accordance with the prevailing recruitment rules at the time and were not subject to the 2014 High Court judgment.

Furthermore, the petitioners argue that they were not informed about the proceedings leading to the High Court judgment, indicating that it was delivered "behind their backs."

Advocates Tarini K Nayak, Amrit Lal Saha, and Aaditya Mishra filed the petition, alleging a significant scam within the Tripura government. They claim that despite the termination of employment, the employment and salary codes of the dismissed teachers remain active. This implies that their monthly salaries are still being deducted from the state treasury and allegedly misused by certain corrupt officials or bureaucrats.

The teachers assert that the Principal Accountant General (Addl.) of Tripura is currently investigating these allegations of fraud.

According to the petition, the terminated teachers find themselves in dire circumstances. More than 160 teachers have purportedly succumbed due to lack of basic sustenance facilities, and many others have tragically taken their own lives, as outlined in the petition.