Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya of the high court on Thursday directed the state government to file an affidavit by July 17 stating which OBC rule it will follow to recruit teachers in state-aided secondary schools.
The judge was hearing a petition filed by candidates from other backward
classes (OBC) who said the school service commission’s (SSC) decision not to accept category-wise applications had deprived them of their rights.
The petitioners said that when the SSC began receiving applications on June 16 to recruit teachers at secondary and higher secondary levels, it was initially accepting OBC applications based on a June 8 state government notification granting reservation in jobs and education.
According to them, the reservation allowed age and marks relaxation. While the age limit for general candidates is 40 years, it is 43 for OBCs. A general category candidate needs 50 per cent at the undergraduate level to apply for assistant teacher posts, while OBC candidates can apply with 45 per cent.
“We lost these relaxations when the commission, on June 23, announced that it would not accept category-wise applications. All have to apply under the ‘Others’ category, alongside general category candidates,” a petitioner said.
The SSC made the change after a division bench of Calcutta High Court on June 17 stayed the implementation of the June 8 notification till July 31, saying due procedure was not followed.
Appearing for the petitioners, lawyer M.R. Shamshad told the court: “My clients are confused whether they will be able to write the selection tests, tentatively fixed in the first week of September.”
Appearing for the state, senior advocate Kalyan Bandyopadhyay said a special leave petition (SLP) had been filed in the Supreme Court against the high court’s order.
“As the SLPs are likely to be heard on Tuesday, the SSC is now abiding by the interim stay and not receiving category-wise applications,” he said.
After hearing both sides, the judge directed the state to submit its affidavit by July 17.