Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 17: Even as a section of aggrieved teachers of West Bengal who lost their jobs on a Supreme Court order took their protest to Delhi, the apex court on Thursday granted relief to the state government by allowing the services of specifically untainted teachers in the State’s government and aided schools to continue to teach, with the rider that the state complete fresh recruitments by December 31 this year.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India said the extension to their services have been allowed out of concern for students of Classes nine to 12.
An April 3 judgment of the Supreme Court had terminated their services after declaring the entire 2016 recruitment process null and void “due to the egregious violations and illegalities, which violated Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution.”
Overruling objections that the government had filed the review petition only to circumvent the earlier order upholding the cancellation of the recruitments made in 2016, the Supreme Court on Thursday allowed “untainted” candidates to continue to teach for the time being. “We are inclined to accept the prayer in the application in so far as it relates to the Assistant Teachers for classes 9 to 12, subject to the following conditions. Advertisement for fresh recruitment shall be published on or before May 31, 2025. Examinations and the entire recruitment process shall be completed by December 31, 2025,” a bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar said allowing an application moved by the state.
The bench directed the state government and West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) to “file an affidavit on or before May 31, 2025, inclusive therewith of the advertisement, as well as the schedule so as to ensure the completion of the recruitment process by December 31, 2025.”
The bench added that in case the advertisement was not published, and the affidavit was not filed by May 31, 2025, appropriate orders would be passed by the court, including imposing costs and vacation of the order. The Supreme Court did not agree with arguments that the state’s plea was an attempt to circumvent the earlier order upholding the cancellation of the recruitments made in 2016.
The apex court further, on Thursday, directed the West Bengal government, represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal and advocate Kunal Mimani, to initiate the fresh recruitment process for assistant teachers to Classes nine to 12, saying its decision was guided by a concern for students in their crucial and formative academic years.
Noting that the number of tainted candidates in the earlier selection process was “substantially high”, the Bench said students ought not to suffer from the fraud. The recruitments, made in 2016 by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), were linked to the cash-for-school jobs recruitment “scam”. The SSC had held the selection process in 2016 for assistant teachers for classes nine to 12 and non-teaching staff.
On April 22 last year, the Calcutta High Court had ordered the invalidation of all 23,123 appointments teaching and non-teaching staffers, whether tainted or not. The apex court had agreed with the High Court finding that the selection process was vitiated and riddled with manipulations and fraud. Attempts were made to cover up the fraud which has only further denuded its credibility and legitimacy of the selection process.
Chief Justice Khanna, who authored the judgment, had declared that the entire selection process was null and void for even candidates who were not specifically found tainted. The apex court said the egregious violations and illegalities found in the selection process violated Article 14 (right to equality) and Article 16 (right to equal opportunity in public employment) of the Constitution.
The State of West Bengal had approached the apex court contending that the High Court had acted in an erroneous manner by mechanically cancelling all the appointments without segregating and examining the merits of each individual recruitment. The State had argued that the sudden termination of 23,123 teaching and non-teaching staff had put school education in a quandary. The education system itself had threatened to come to a virtual standstill.
A section of aggrieved teachers, from among the over 26,000 who lost their jobs following the Supreme Court order in the West Bengal teacher recruitment scam case reached New Delhi and held a sit-in demonstration at Jantar Mantar.
They have also planned a week-long agitation in different forms. On April 18-19, protests are planned across multiple districts in West Bengal. On April 22, the teachers will conduct a march from Sealdah to the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata. A “relay hunger strike” has been planned from May 1-7 in Kolkata. If a concrete resolution is not reached in this time, the teachers have said they will escalate their agitation and commence an indefinite hunger strike from May 8.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had given a call to the thousands of people who lost their jobs to “voluntarily” continue in their jobs till a solution was reached, but this offer has found few takers. School authorities have also found themselves in a difficult position with the idea of “voluntary service” as they don’t know if the teachers who have lost their jobs would be paid their salaries, and if they would be allowed to mark their attendance if they went to work.
State Education Minister Bratya Basu met with 12 representatives from among the people who had lost their jobs at the WBSSC’s office on April 11. He had told them that the State government had no objection to publishing separate lists naming the tainted and untainted candidates after legal consultations. “We will ask the [WB]SSC to publish the list according to the CBI’s (Central Bureau of Investigation) findings,” Mr Basu had said.
