'Why Does School Teacher Have To Seek NOC With Folded Hands?": Calcutta High Court On Repeated Non Issuance of NOC For Transfer

The Calcutta High Court on Monday came down heavily on a school and its Headmistress for deliberately refusing to issue a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) and a release order to a teacher who had sought leave to get transferred to another school on health grounds. The Court also instructed the concerned Headmistress to vacate her post and accordingly demoted her to the post of an assistant teacher in the school. The Court also took note of the fact that the application for issuance of a NOC had been pending for almost 2 years and accordingly directed the school authorities to immediately issue a release order to the concerned teacher. Severely reprimanding the school authorities for denying the requested NOC to the teacher, Justice Abjijit Gangopadhyay observed, "What surprises me as a judge of this court that in a democratic country like ours when a person like the school teacher is seeking no-objection certificate from the school which he/she is entitled under the law and when the school is mandated by the law to issue no-objection certificate why a school teacher has to write to the Headmistress with folded hands unless the Headmistress time and again has denied to give NOC and unless she has posed herself a feudal head of some fiefdom in this country that a teacher has to pray for a no-objection certificate in folded hands!" The Court added further, "Such a mischievous headmistress is wholly unfit as a Headmistress of the school and the headmistress who is to issue the release order has actually violated the law and further the constitutional right of a citizen who can maintain his writ application in the High Court. She has even filed a frivolous writ application which is nothing but abuse of process of justice, to stall the transfer of the teacher. She cannot be allowed to act as a Headmistress of the school." The Court thus ordered the assistant headmistress to assume the responsibility of the headmistress of the concerned school. In the instant case, the concerned teacher had been provided with a transfer order by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) for transfer from the Gandhi Memorial Girls High School to Digra Mallickhati Deshbandhu Vidyapith. However, despite such a transfer order, the authorities of the Gandhi Memorial Girls High School had refused to issue a release order/NOC to the concerned school teacher. The Court at the outset noted that the school and its Headmistress had made a 'nasty effort' in not issuing the NOC to the school teacher for her transfer. The Court also impleaded another petition moved by the School and its Headmistress against the State and its functionaries such as the Commissioner of School Education and the WBBSE. Infuriated at the filing of such a 'frivolous petition', the Court remarked, "This application is absolutely (I repeat, absolutely) a frivolous and mischievous one and want of bona fide is writ large in each line of the writ application" Furthermore, it was also pointed out to the Court that the school teacher wanted to withdraw the instant plea moved by her because the concerned school authorities had instructed her to do so otherwise the release order sought would not be granted to her. "By taking such an arm-twisting method for withdrawal of the teacher's writ application and for other illegalities stated above the Headmistress has (1) deliberately violated the law (2) has abused the process of the justice of this country and (3) has pressed a citizen, the teacher, to withdraw her writ application for issuing release order, as a bargain, from the school and thereby violated the liberty granted the constitution of this county to a citizen, here the teacher by using the arm-twisting method", the Court remarked. Referring to the written submission of the School and its Headmistress, the Court observed with anguish that the authorities had 'taken pride' in not issuing a NOC to the school teacher. The Court further referred to Rule 6(3) of the West Bengal Central School Service Commission (General Transfer, Transfer on Special Grounds and Reallocation) Rules, 2015 which mandates the head of an institution to provide a NOC to a teacher seeking a general transfer."The word 'shall' has been used in the said Rule 6 (3). This mandate of the said rules has been blatantly, shamelessly and deliberately violated by the Headmistress of the School", the Court added further. Furthermore, the Court further took note of the fact that the teacher had submitted a host of genuine reasons for seeking such a transfer such as- (a) the distance of the school from the residence of the teacher being more than 200 kilometers; (b) The teacher has been suffering from complicated gynecological disease and has undergone operations for such disease; (c) she delivered a child in the year 2016 i.e. on the date of application for no objection the child was aged about 3 (three) years and finally (d) The teacher's cancer antigen result report was of a...

'Why Does School Teacher Have To Seek NOC With Folded Hands?": Calcutta High Court On Repeated Non Issuance of NOC For Transfer

Aaratrika Bhaumik

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