‘Shed Macaulay mindset’: Orissa HC raps authorities, orders reappointment of terminated teacher

The Orissa High Court has directed the State Government to reappoint a high school teacher, who was terminated after twenty years of service, within three months saying that “statutory authorities should shed Macaulay Mindset and Colonial Hangover while addressing the woes of citizens”.

As per the case records, Ramesh Chandra Parida appointed as a Hindi Teacher in December 1991 was terminated from service in 2004 on the ground of remaining unauthorized absence.

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The petitioner Binodini Nayak was appointed in 2008 against the vacancy arising out of termination of Parida.

Parida, however, challenged his termination which was dismissed earlier in the Orissa High Court. Later on Apex Court’s direction, he was reinstated in the job.

As a fallout of reinstatement, the petitioner, who had put in more than twenty years of spotless service, was rendered jobless.

The District Education Officer, Balaosre mercifully made a recommendation to the Director, Secondary Education on 23 August, 2024 that the petitioner may be accommodated in a vacant post on the ground that she rendered meritorious service for two decades. However the department of secondary education turned down the recommendation of the reappointment of the lady teacher.

“Ours is a constitutionally ordained Welfare State. Therefore, the action of the State and its instrumentalities should abound elements of fairness, reason & justice”, Justice Dixit Krishna Shripad observed in the order that ordered the approval of the appointment within a period of three months.

The authorities cannot mindlessly pass orders that would strike at law, reason & justice. Human difficulties that are generated for no fault of theirs have to be borne in mind and all reasonable effects be made to mitigate the same, of course, within the framework of law, Justice Shripad stated in the verdict.

Quoting Jeremy Bentham, Justice Shripad warned that otherwise the government risks being “nothing but a band of robbers.”

“Statutory authorities should shed Macaulay Mindset and Colonial Hangover while addressing the woes of citizens,” Justice Shripad concluded.