Supreme Court Allows Bengal Govt To Retain 'Deserving' Teachers For Class 9-12; Orders Fresh Recruitment

The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the West Bengal government to retain 'deserving' teachers for class 9-12 and ordered fresh recruitment after they invalidated the entire recruitment panel of School Service Commission from 2016 as part of CBI's school job scam case.

The apex court bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar passed this order today with the consideration that students should not suffer amid the job loss row.

The Court has declined to grant such relief to Group C and Group D employees, whose appointments were cancelled, as the number of tainted candidates in the said classes is substantially high, rpeorted LiveLaw.

The apex court mentioned that this order comes at a condition that the West Bengal government and the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) will complete the fresh recruitment process for the posts of Assistant Teachers of Classes 9 & 10, and 11 & 12 by December 31, 2025.

They directed the two parties to publish the advertisements for the fresh recruitment process by May 31, 2025 and directed to file an affidavit.

According to LiveLaw, the Court passed the order in a Miscellaneous Application filed in the State of West Bengal vs Baishakhi Bhattacharyya case, where the Supreme Court recently upheld the cancellations of the 2016 appointments due to large-scale fraud and manipulation.

Background

The Supreme Court on April 3 invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and other staff in state-run and state-aided schools in West Bengal, terming their selection process "vitiated and tainted".

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar upheld a Calcutta High Court verdict dated April 22, 2024, annulling the appointments.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held a meeting with the jobless teachers on April 7 and asked them to keep faith in her.

The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) has filed a petition in the Supreme Court, requesting that the dismissed staff be allowed to continue until the end of the academic year or until a new recruitment process is completed -- whichever is earlier.

State Education Minister Bratya Basu, in the presence of WBBSE President Ramanuj Ganguly, had last week said the petition is expected to be heard by the apex court on April 17.