Panchbhaya High School. Picture by Nantu Dey

Raiganj, Aug. 27: The North Dinajpur district inspector of schools has issued an order stopping the payment of salaries of all employees of a local high school and freezing government grants to the institution for not allowing a headmaster appointed by the School Service Commission to join duty.

The authorities of Panchbhaya High School, 25km from here, however, claimed that they had not got any such order.

Narayan Sarkar, the district inspector of schools, said although the SSC had appointed Abhijit Dutta as the headmaster of the school, the managing committee of the institution did not allow him to join.

“The appointment was made over two years ago and the school ignored the matter. The teacher had approached the high court which ordered the SSC to stop all grants to the school. Recently, I received the SSC order and I served a notice on the school on August 21,” Sarkar said.

Dutta, the Itahar zonal committee secretary of the Left dominated All Bengal Primary Teachers’ Association (ABPTA), alleged that the Trinamul-run school management committee was not allowing him to work.

“I appeared for the SSC exam in 2011 and the SSC nominated me as the headmaster of Panchbhaya High School in February 2011. But the managing committee refused to grant me an appointment. I suspect the Trinamul-dominated school committee is doing this for petty political reasons,” he said.

Dutta approached the high court in April 2012. “Justice Debashis Kar Gupta said on December 12, 2012, that the SSC appointment was to be honoured. But with the school ignoring the order, I approached the court again in February 2013. In May, the court sent another order to the SSC (to stop the salaries of all the employees and freeze grants),” he said.

Jainuddin Ahmed, the headmaster of the school, said: “We have not received any order that says the salaries of the teachers and the staff members are being stopped.”

Abdul Latif, secretary of the school managing committee, said: “Instead of approaching us personally, Dutta sent ABPTA people to talk to us. We decided not to allow him to join as he would turn the school into a CPM party office.”