Midnapore, Oct. 10: Politics has come in the way of the appointment of headmasters in two high schools in Contai, East Midnapore, whose authorities are refusing to appoint candidates picked by the School Service Commission.

The headmasters ? one anti-CPM and the other pro ? are being prevented from taking charge by school managements dominated by the CPM and the Trinamul Congress.

In August 2004, the commission recruited Dipak Das as the headmaster of Namal Kalipada Vidyapith in the town, about 170 km from Calcutta.

The school, however, claimed that it hadn’t received the letter confirming his appointment. The commission wrote to the school again asking it to appoint Das the headmaster. But, this time, too, the management did not accept the letter sent by registered post.

Das, now the headmaster of Champatala High School, is a leader of the West Bengal Headmasters’ Association, known for its anti-Left leanings.

“They (the authorities) are politically motivated. Some of the managing committee members and the teacher-in-charge are involved in various kinds of corruption. I am a former teacher of the school and they fear that their misdeeds might now be exposed,” he said.

The secretary of the managing committee, Syed Layek Ali Bux, a CPM member of the local Contai-I panchayat samiti, said he was not in the school when the letters arrived.

At Kishore Nagar Sachindra Vidyalaya, Jayanta Roy, the secretary of the CPM-controlled All Bengal Teachers’ Association, is being barred entry by the Trinamul-majority body. The commission wrote to the school thrice and the dist-rict inspector of schools even gave an ultimatum, but the school bosses did not react.

District inspector of schools Jagadish Maity thundered: “If they do not cooperate, strong action will be taken.”