Constitutional amendment must for GTA Act: Centre

The Centre on Thursday informed the Calcutta High Court that a constitutional amendment is essential to validate the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) Act and for which it has asked the West Bengal government to hand over the draft of the Bill.

Somnath Basu, representing the Centre, said the constitutional amendment was required for a technical purpose otherwise there was no illegality in the Act. To which, Justice Dipankar Dutta asked whether the GTA Act was introduced before amending the Constitution. Bose said yes.

Subash Ghising, president of Gorkha National Liberation Front and former chairman of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, had filed a writ petition in June 2012, challenging the legal validity of the GTA Act which was passed in the state Assembly in September 2011. The Act paved the way for the formation of the GTA as agreed in the tripartite agreement between the Centre, state and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

The case will come up for hearing next week.

Fresh petition against teacher hiring drive

A petition was moved on Thursday urging the Calcutta High Court to stop the recruitment process initiated by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) by an advertisement issued in December 2011. The written test has been held, although the interview process is yet to start. Several candidates who appeared in the examination challenged the recruitment process on the ground that the WBSSC could not put the candidates, who have not received training, with the trained ones. The petition contended that only BEd candidates could be recruited as per NCTE Act and Right to Education Act. The next hearing is on January 28.

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