BLO Duty Case: The Booth Level Officer (BLO) duty controversy concerning primary teachers has finally reached the Kolkata High Court. A case has been filed in the Calcutta High Court alleging that primary teachers in the state are being forced to perform BLO duties. In a relief to the teachers, the honorable court has granted permission to file the case. The hearing for this case may take place next Monday. This development has brought a sigh of relief to thousands of primary teachers in the state.
What is this BLO Duty Controversy?
According to the Election Commission’s directives, Booth Level Officers or BLOs are appointed for the revision of voter lists and the registration of new voters. It is alleged that in various districts of West Bengal primary teachers are predominantly being appointed for this work in violation of the rules. The teachers claim that this is severely hampering school studies and placing an additional workload on them.
Teachers’ Main Allegations:
- Violation of Rules: According to the 2022 guidelines of the Election Commission, only a minimal number of educational staff should be appointed for election work if necessary. But in reality, it is seen that 80-90 out of 100 BLOs are primary teachers.
- Harm to Education: For BLO duty, teachers have to work outside of school hours. They even have to do this work on holidays, which disrupts the students’ studies at school.
- Extra Workload: Alongside their regular school duties, an important and time-consuming task like BLO duty is creating additional mental and physical pressure on the teachers.
- No Extra Remuneration: It is alleged that no additional remuneration or allowance is being paid to the teachers for this extra work.
The Court’s Action
About 50 primary teachers, approached the Calcutta High Court against this injustice. An appeal was made for an urgent hearing of the case in Justice Amrita Sinha’s bench. The honorable court has given permission to file the case, and the hearing may take place next Monday.
According to the lawyers, the petitioners can now refuse to accept BLO duty and wait for the court’s verdict. Those who have not yet joined the case can also file a CAN application to be included in this case and receive the same benefits.
This incident has brought a ray of hope to the state’s teaching community. They are hopeful that the court’s intervention will lead to a permanent solution to this problem and they will be able to fully concentrate on their main job, which is teaching students.
