No gram pradhan post for teachers

This will, however, change from now. In a notification issued by the state Panchayat and Rural Development (P & RD) department, the post of the gram panchayat pradhan has been declared a full time office.

The notification, dated April 7, 2008 puts into effect a law enacted 11 years ago that had required the gram panchayat pradhan to forgo any other office of profit during his tenure as the panchayat head.

The notification declares the gram panchayat pradhan of all districts (except Darjeeling) as the fulltime functionary of his office on and from June 26, 2008.

The notification is an enforcement of section 7 of the West Bengal Panchayat (Amendment) Act, 1997.

“The pradhans who will take oath on and from June 26, 2008 shall be a whole time functionary of his office and that during the period he will hold such office, he shall not hold any office of profit from the aforesaid date,” the notification states.

The decision will have widespread ramifications.

Many government school teachers will now be barred from simultaneously holding the two posts.

The All Bengal Teachers’ Association (ABTA), a CPM-backed teachers’ union, is not opposed to the idea. “When a teacher is engaged as a panchayat pradhan, his work at school is bound to suffer. He cannot do justice to his duties as a panchayat pradhan either,” said Shibaprasad Mukherjee, General Secretary, ABTA.

The notification, however, does not mention if the panchayat head has to resign from his job or can go on leave for five years.

The state school education minister, Partha De, however, ruled out allowing teachers to go on a prolonged period of leave. “We cannot allow that. It is better that teachers are kept out from this,” said De.