Calcutta HC asks school authorities to issue NOC for transfer of teacher by midnight

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court directed the authorities of a school in West Bengal's Purba Medinipur district to issue a no-objection certificate (NOC) for transfer to a teacher by midnight of Wednesday, failing which they would have to appear before the court on Friday to explain why it was not given.

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Noting that the woman teacher of Bajitpur Saradamoni Balika Vidyalaya, a government-aided institute at Sutahata, was not given the NOC though she applied for it in August 2021, the court said that it fails to understand how the headmistress and the secretary of the school's managing committee kept the matter pending.

"They are to issue the no-objection certificate today by 12 midnight or they have to appear personally before this court on 22nd April, 2022 at 10:30 am for giving an explanation as to why the no-objection certificate has not been issued," Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay said in his order.

Petitioner teacher Mousumi Mondal's lawyer Saibal Acharya said that her residence at Matia in North 24 Parganas district of the state is about 200 kilometres away from the school.

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The petitioner applied for transfer from her present school to another through the 'Utsashree' portal of the state government. But the school managing committee has not issued the NOC on the ground that she is the only master's degree holder teacher of the subject taught by her at the school, he submitted.

Utsashree portal was launched by the state government to help school teachers apply for transfer. Acharya submitted that when the petitioner applied for transfer on August 9, 2021, there was no embargo for transfer of a single teacher for a subject from one school to another. An embargo on transfer of such teachers was imposed in September last year, a month after her application, he said.