Shimla, May 3 -- The Himachal Pradesh high court asked education department officials to "file a reply within a week" after the office bearers of Primary Teachers' Union moved the HC against suspensions of eight teachers. Primary teachers have been on a hunger strike in Shimla since April 26. Issuing notices to the education secretary and director of school education on Thursday, the court said if they do not file the reply within the given time, it will have to "decide the application for interim relief on basis of the material already available on record." The case is listed for May 13. Union President Jagdish Sharma, Sanjay, Pratap Thakur and Ram Singh Rao have filed the petition for interim relief. The petitioners said the state government took "unilateral" action against them to "suppress their constitutional rights". The petitioners pointed out that they held a peaceful protest, following which the government issued suspension orders. The petition alleges their headquarters were "arbitrarily" shifted to far-flung areas even as the suspension orders did not involve any charge that could be affected by their presence at their previous postings. During the preliminary hearing on Thursday, the government sought some time. Since April 26, primary school teachers have been sitting on protest in Shimla against the reorganisation of directorates. The protesters say they started the stir after informing the education department and demanded the state government takes back the decision. The stir came after the state government decided to merge the directorate of elementary education with the directorate of higher education. After the stir started, the state government suspended 10 teachers and ordered cases be registered against them....