The Calcutta High Court on Friday granted permission to the unemployed SSC-qualified teachers to continue their protest, relocating it to Central Park in Salt Lake. The decision comes as the agitation, now over two weeks old, has drawn increasing public attention and prompted legal scrutiny.
During Friday’s hearing, Justice Rajasekhar Mantha emphasised balancing the protesters' rights with public convenience. Two unemployed teachers appeared in court, prompting the judge to remark, “Your protest is causing inconvenience to the common people. Who gave you the space in front of Bikash Bhavan? Go across the street and do it in Central Park. I have no objection to your movement, but we must ensure public order.”
The guidelines laid down by the court to regulate the protest includes a maximum of 200 protesters will be allowed at a time, the protest will be held in shifts over a 12-hour period daily, the organisers must submit the names of 10 official representatives to the police, who will coordinate the arrangements, the state government must ensure basic facilities like drinking water and sanitation for the demonstrators and no strict police action may be taken against any protester simply for participating in the demonstration.
Justice Ghosh urged the state to handle the matter “humanely”, cautioning that unnecessary aggression would not be tolerated.
During the proceedings, one of the protesters told the judge, “A movement cannot be conducted with only 50 or 100 people. We need at least 400–500 to make an impact.”
This led to a heated exchange with state counsel and Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Kalyan Banerjee, who opposed large gatherings and questioned the presence of “political outsiders” at the protest site. He urged the court to prevent such attendance.
Responding to Banerjee’s submission, Justice Gosh said, “Do you think such an order can be passed in this country? Freedom of assembly is a right. Let’s not forget the Constitution.”
He further advised the protesting teachers, ““You are educators. You will return to classrooms someday. Don’t act in a way that forces the court to step in again. Let the police do their job while you follow the law.”
Since May 15, a large group of unemployed teachers and education staff have been demonstrating outside Bikash Bhavan, the state education department headquarters. These protesters are among the 25,735 teachers and staff who lost their jobs following the Supreme Court’s verdict that invalidated their recruitment under the 2016 School Service Commission (SSC) process due to irregularities.
The plaintiffs’ lawyer argued that the state’s attempt to file fresh applications to restrict the protest amounted to “working with a gun on our shoulders”, as their side had already filed for dismissal of the FIRs lodged against the demonstrators.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for July 4.
Meanwhile, Chinmoy Mandal, representing the Odhikar Mancha, a platform of jobless but qualified teachers, said, “We are yet to receive a written order from the High Court. Once we do, we will decide our next course of action after consultation.”
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