Kolkata: Calcutta HC has directed the Malda District Primary School Council to consider a teacher’s plea for transfer to a school near his home so that he can care for his pregnant wife.Biplab Swarnakar, 38, an assistant teacher at Chhabi Pandit Tola Primary School since 2021, travels 104km daily between the school, 52km away, and his home in Malda’s English Bazar. His wife Santana, who is due to deliver in Dec, has serious gynaecological complications and a history of three miscarriages.“She requires constant care, supervision and support at home…but the daily 104km travel has caused inconvenience to the assistant teacher to take care of his ailing spouse,” he pleaded before the court.Swarnakar could not apply on the Utsashree portal, which was non-functional, so he applied offline on Sept 8. Despite repeated enquiries, he received no response and moved HC.The authorities’ counsel initially argued that the application, not being made through the portal, could not be considered under the rules. However, they did not dispute the portal’s unavailability once Swarnakar’s counsel raised it.“It is made clear that this order will not act as a precedent permitting others to file transfer applications in a physical form,” Justice Rishad Medora clarified on Nov 10.
