The high court has declined to urgently hear a petition challenging the West Bengal School Service Commission’s latest recruitment notification, scheduling the matter for July despite the imminent start of the application process.

Justice Saugata Bhattacharya listed the hearing for July when lawyer Firdaus Shamim sought an immediate hearing, arguing that online applications for the fresh recruitment would begin on June 16. The court refused to intervene and posted the matter for later consideration.

The petition was filed before the vacation bench last week. The high court resumed regular hearings on Monday.

Recruitment process

The commission issued its recruitment notification on May 30 to appoint teachers at secondary and higher secondary levels in government-aided schools, based on rules approved by the school education department the same day. Online form submission will run from June 16 to July 14, with selection tests tentatively scheduled for early September.

The challenge

Petitioner Lubana Parvin, 37, who appeared for the commission’s 2016 selection tests
but failed to secure a job, has challenged a key provision in the new rules. The contested provision awards up to 20 marks (out of 100) to candidates based on teaching experience and lecture demonstrations.

Parvin alleges that this relaxation was designed to favour in-service teachers seeking to retain their positions beyond December.

In a 100-mark selection test, if 20 marks are “just gifted like that”, the com- petition is skewed against candidates like her who had been deprived of jobs because of irregularities, she contended.

Legal background

The petition stems from the Supreme Court’s April 3 order terminating 25,753 teaching and non-teaching positions due to recruitment irregularities. However, in its April 17 order, the apex court allowed teachers “not specifically found to be tainted” to write fresh selection tests without age restrictions to retain their jobs beyond December.

The state government has filed a review petition against the Supreme Court’s termination order, arguing that over 18,000 “not specifically found to be tainted” candidates have been made to suffer “for the alleged illegality committed by the SSC in the selection process in respect of certain other tainted candidates”.

Court’s position

Justice Bhattacharya of the high court cited the pending state government review petition at the Supreme Court as reason for deferring the hearing to July. A school education department official confirmed that the Supreme Court is likely to hear the state’s review petition in July.

Stakeholder concerns

Parvin told reporters that the state government’s decision to award 20 marks appears designed to help the 15,403 teachers currently allowed to work until December 31 retain their positions.

“It is because of our challenge that the Supreme Court decided to cancel the appointments, which the court said was a ‘vitiated’ process. But in the fresh recruitment exercise, the state government is discriminating against us,” she said.

The case highlights the ongoing struggle to balance fairness in government recruitment while managing the practical challenges of maintaining educational services and addressing past irregularities in the system.