Jobs on chopping block but teachers will have to answer EC's poll-duty call
Times of India | 26 April 2024
KOLKATA: Several schoolteachers, who are set to lose their jobs following a Calcutta High Court order in the cash-for-jobs scam, are poll officials in the state's second phase of voting. While none of them relishes poll duty when their job is at stake, they also recognise that no one can ignore EC's call to duty.
On Thursday, Jahid Ali, Ruksid Amir, Pratap Singh, Anisoor Rehaman and Priyanka Guha were spotted at various EVM distribution centres and receiving centres (DCRC), reporting for election duty.
Ali, Amir, Singh and Rehamant taught English; Guha taught economics.
As they set out to fulfil their election duties, the teachers tried to keep their spirits high and focus on the task at hand. They knew that they had to remain professional and carry out their responsibilities to the best of their ability, despite the uncertainty that looms.
Rehaman, who had fought a legal battle for nearly eight years to secure the job of an English teacher and joined on Feb 27, 2023, now finds himself back to square one - and in the same boat as those who had bagged jobs fraudulently.
"After years of litigation, I and 64 other candidates finally received a favourable order from Justice Abhijit Ganguly and joined service a year ago. And now, we are being told that we don't have our jobs. When the call came from EC, I was in two minds but then resolved to perform my duty," said Rehaman, who was at Islampur DCRC.
Ali went to the district magistrate's office after the HC order to find out whether he was eligible for election duty, as he was no longer a teacher. "I was asked by EC to report for duty to avoid a show-cause notice," said Ali, who is on duty in Balurghat.
CEO Aariz Aftab said EC had taken legal opinion on the teachers' deployment. "Since they are yet to be dismissed from their jobs, they are still teachers and therefore eligible for election duty," he said, adding that none of the teachers affected by the HC order would be deployed in the third phase of polls on May 7.
Like Ali, Amir found himself in a similar predicament. He had barely settled in a school in North Dinajpur, when the court order dropped on him like a bomb. He decided to report for poll duty at Chopra, where elections will be held on Friday.
Singh, posted in a school in Islampur, also reported for poll duty in Chopra. "My wife is pregnant and my job was cancelled after the HC order. I don't know what to do, but I couldn't skip poll duty," he said.
Guha was posted as presiding officer for Friday's poll in Raiganj LS constituency. Though she had lost her job, she said she would be performing poll duty.