Fifty-five-year-old Papiya Gupta looked relieved on Tuesday after her decade-long struggle to get her primary school teacher’s job regularised paid off.

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the state primary school education department to issue an appointment letter to her within four weeks. Justice Saumitra Pal also directed the chairman of the primary school education board of North 24-Parganas to regularise Gupta’s job as primary school teacher from 1996. Gupta had joined as a teacher at a para primary school in Kanchrapara in 1975. In 1996, when the state government decided to sponsor the school, services of all the teachers of that school were regularised except Gupta’s.

After waiting patiently for five years, Gupta decided to file a petition in the court complaining that district primary education department was not regularising her job.

Two years later, the Calcutta High Court directed the department concerned to approve her service. Following this, the primary school education department issued an order asking the district primary education council to give an appointment letter to her. But the council did not comply with the order.

In 2006, Gupta filed a petition again in the High Court. In spite of a similar directive issued by the court, the primary education department this time too failed to follow the court’s directive.

Later, Gupta filed a petition in the High Court complaining that the district primary education council was reluctant to carry out earlier orders of the High Court.

Arguing for Gupta, her counsel Uttam Mazumdar, told court that his client has already turned 55 and the department has still not regularised her services. “When will her services be regularised? Mazumdar questioned. After hearing the case, Justice Pal asked the primary education department to also place a compliance report before the bench.