A division bench of the high court on Monday reserved its judgment on a petition challenging the state government’s decision to hold the teacher selection tests based on rules drafted this year.

The petitioners comprise candidates who had cracked the tests in 2016 and allegedly did not get the jobs as assistant teachers because of irregularities in the selection process conducted by the school service commission (SSC).

They said the new recruitment rules discriminated against them.

Their lawyer, Sudipta Dasgupta, told the court last week that the new recruitment rules contained provisions to award up to 10 marks each for teaching experience and lecture demonstrations to in-service teachers and that would disadvantage the waitlisted candidates of the 2016 panel.

Dasgupta argued that the selection tests likely to be held in the first week of September should be held under the rules of 2016, as they did not provide any relaxation to anyone.

The petitioners first moved a single bench of the high court. As Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya did not give an order on the petition, they moved the division bench of Justices Soumen Sen and Smita Das De.

Lubana Parvin, 37, a waitlisted candidate, alleged that the rules issued on May 30, 2025, by the state government favoured in-service teachers in retaining their jobs beyond December.

“The Supreme Court cancelled the entire panel based on the 2016 tests on April 3. The in-service teachers who were not specifically found tainted were allowed to go to schools till December. They will take part in the recruitment process. The state government will award them 10 marks each for prior teaching experience and lecture demonstrations. But what about us?” said Parvin.

“We had been deprived of jobs because of corrupt practices. And now we are being discriminated against by extending relaxations to those in service,” she added.

“Therefore, we demand that the recruitment tests be held based on rules drafted in 2016 because that is not favourably disposed towards any particular section of candidates,” Parvin told Metro.

In 2016, the written tests carried 55 marks, 35 marks were allotted for academic qualifications, and 10 for interviews.

In 2025, the break-up of marks to select assistant teachers for secondary and higher secondary levels in government-aided schools will be different. The test carries 60 marks, teaching experience carries 10 marks, lecture demonstration carries 10 marks, qualifications carry marks, and interviews carry 10 marks.

Senior advocate Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, representing the SSC, said during Monday’s hearing that in its April 3 order, the Supreme Court did not say anything on the rules that have to be followed for the fresh recruitment process.

“It only said that the state government has to hold a fresh recruitment test by December 31, 2025. It is the prerogative of the state government what rules they will follow to get the brightest candidates,” said Bandyopadhyay.

He later told Metro: “Awarding 20 marks does not necessarily mean we have tried to favour the 15,403 teachers who have been identified as not specifically tainted... The notification only says that in-service and contractual teachers will be given up to 10 marks for teaching experience based on their years of service. We have not specified any batch.”

The new rules say candidates other than the 15,403 in-service teachers would have to be less than 40 years old to write the tests.

In its April 17 order, the Supreme Court allowed teachers “not specifically found tainted” to write the fresh selection tests without any age bar.

“This means someone who was 36 in 2016 when the tests were held, and could not get the job because of the recruitment fraud, cannot write the fresh tests. This is discriminatory and unfair, “ said lawyer Dasgupta.