Sacked teachers of Tripura stage protest as CJI visits Agartala

AGARTALA:

The 10, 323 sacked teachers of Tripura on Wednesday welcomed the Chief Justice of India, Arvind Bobde to Agartala with a protest by covering their eyes with a black cloth to express their plight of being "ignored" by the judicial system.

"The protest symbolises that the justice system has become blind to our plight, both from the legal and the humanitarian grounds," said one of the agitating teachers.

According to reports, the Chief Justice of India Arvind Bobde arrived in Agartala on Wednesday to attend a programme.

The agitating teachers also displayed banners which read, "Honourable Chief Justice of India, We also want to live"; "We are innocent, Save us’".

The teachers had launched an indefinite strike from December 7, demanding the state government to provide them employment.

The 10, 323 teachers were recruited by the then left-front government from 2010 to 2014. But things turned sideways when the candidates, who failed to secure a teaching job, challenged the then government’s recruitment policy in the Tripura High Court in 2014.

The judgement was ruled in favour of the complainants and, the court passed an order to terminate the jobs of these teachers based on findings that the recruitment process was faulty.

The then left-front government had moved the Supreme Court against the order. But on March 31 this year, the Supreme Court upheld the Tripura High Court's order, terminating the employment of the 10, 323 teachers.

(Edited by Laxmi Chyrmang)