Anit Thapa, the chief executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) on Tuesday, backed the regularisation of voluntary teachers in the hills but again said he wanted the School Service Commission (SSC) to be implemented in the GTA area as early as possible to put in place a proper recruitment process.

Various social organisations and political parties from Darjeeling hills have demanded an inquiry into the regularisation of more than 500 voluntary teachers by the state government in consonance with the GTA over the past one decade.

Since the SSC has been defunct in the hills since 2003, voluntary teachers have been recruited purportedly against vacant posts and many of them regularised. There are, however, allegations of nepotism, irregularity and deviation from administrative orders in the regularisation process.

Thapa said: “The GTA does not have a system for recruitment of teachers. The SSC has collapsed in the hills. There is no system for our educated youth to sit for an interview. I have repeatedly stressed on the need for an SSC in the hills. I have raised the issue with the chief minister, chief secretary, earlier. I will once again write on this subject.”The GTA chief, at the same time, batted for the voluntary teachers who have already been regularised.

“Until the SSC is put in place there must be a way out too. It is our people who have got the job, which is good and this process was initiated (to regularise voluntary teachers) as there was no other system to do so,” said Thapa.

The demand for SSC might be growing louder in the hills but the state government had set up the commission for the region two decades back. It was then rejected by the hill leaders.The SSC Malda zone held a teacher recruitment for Darjeeling schools in 1997.

The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), the party in power in hills then, opposed the empanelled list of candidates and demanded a separate SSC for the hills.SSC (hills) was created and the body conducted another examination in 1999.However, the GNLF demanded the same be brought under the then hill body Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC).

The state government wanted to transfer the SSC (hills) to the DGHC, but the hill body refused the commission stating that the hill schools were “linguistic minority schools” and that SSC had no jurisdiction over hill schools.The empanelled candidates of 1997 and 1999 were stopped from joining work and the schools continue to function with “ad hoc” teachers who were paid by the DGHC.In 2007, when the GNLF was overthrown by Bimal Gurung’s Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the 220-odd empanelled candidates were allowed to join work.

While the demand for the SSC is now being welcomed by most hill parties, many in the hills are of the opinion that Thapa is missing the wood for the trees.“No one is opposing the implementation of the SSC, but many in the hills believe that the process of regularisation has been faulty and that many genuine, deserving and qualified candidates have been overlooked. This is why they want a thorough inquiry,” said a hill resident.