Bengal Government Challenges High Court’s Decision On 25,000 Teachers’ Appointments

The West Bengal government has lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court against the Calcutta High Court’s decision to nullify the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff by the state School Service Commission (SSC) in 2016. This move comes after the High Court, on April 22, also directed the appointed individuals to reimburse their salaries along with interest.

In its appeal, the state government argued that the High Court’s decision to annul the entire selection process was unwarranted. The government asserted that instead of singling out valid appointments from the alleged illegal ones, the High Court had mistakenly invalidated the entire recruitment process.

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The plea emphasized that there was no justification for scrapping the entire recruitment procedure, especially when only certain appointments were deemed wrongful or illegal based on the findings of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) report. The government contended that, according to legal principles, only the disputed appointments could have been overturned after allowing the concerned parties to present their arguments.

However, the government criticized the High Court for failing to differentiate between legitimate and illegitimate appointments. By tarring the entire selection process with the brush of irregularity, the High Court, according to the government, placed the state authorities responsible for maintaining the teacher-student ratio in schools in a precarious position.

The appeal underscores the need for a fair and nuanced approach to address the alleged irregularities in the recruitment process. It highlights the importance of upholding the rule of law while ensuring justice for both the affected parties and the broader educational system in West Bengal.