The Supreme Court on Thursday permitted “untainted” assistant teachers in West Bengal—whose appointments were cancelled due to widespread irregularities in the 2016 recruitment process—to continue in their roles until the completion of a fresh selection process.
Emphasising that students must not suffer as a result of the administrative lapses, a bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna extended temporary relief exclusively to Class 9 to 12 teachers whose names have not been linked to any wrongdoing.
The bench directed the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) to issue fresh recruitment advertisements by May 31, and to conclude the entire process by December 31, 2025.
However, the top court made it clear that the relief will not apply to Group C and Group D employees. It also warned that if there is any delay in the recruitment timeline, the interim relief granted to the assistant teachers would be withdrawn.
Last week, the Supreme Court upheld a Calcutta High Court order that had cancelled 25,753 appointments to teaching and non-teaching posts made by the WBSSC in 2016, citing large-scale irregularities.
In April last year, the Calcutta High Court had scrapped these appointments, directing the candidates hired from expired panels to return the full salary earned during their tenure, with 12 per cent annual interest.
However, the apex court recently set aside the part of the High Court’s order that had directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the creation of supernumerary posts in state-run schools—positions suspected to have enabled the illegal recruitment of ineligible candidates.
The Supreme Court clarified that while the CBI cannot examine the legitimacy of the creation of these posts, it is not barred from investigating other elements of the ongoing school jobs scam, as outlined in the High Court’s ruling.
-IANS