Baby Chakraborty, KalimNews, Kolkata, June 4, 2025 : The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday admitted multiple petitions challenging the latest notification issued by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) regarding recruitment for teaching and non-teaching posts in state-run and government-aided schools. In a separate case, the state government’s recently announced monthly stipend scheme for Group-C and Group-D staff has also been contested before the same court. Both matters are expected to be heard on June 5.
The single-judge vacation bench of Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury admitted the petition related to the recruitment notification. The challenge comes in the wake of the Supreme Court’s April 3 verdict, which cancelled 25,753 appointments made in 2016, citing irregularities in the recruitment process. Following this decision, teachers affected by the ruling have been protesting statewide.
Petitioners argue that the latest recruitment notification introduces significant changes to the weightage system, including 10 marks each for past teaching experience and lecture demonstrations. They allege that these changes unfairly advantage previously appointed candidates and disadvantage fresh applicants.
One protesting teacher commented, “We are not ready to sit for examinations again after teaching for so many years. There are several lacunae in the notification and weightage.”
Senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya alleged that the notification lacked transparency and could potentially pave the way for another scam. Advocate Sudipta Dasgupta claimed that although all are technically allowed to sit for the examination, the process excludes both disqualified and fresh candidates in practice. He asserted that the 10-mark allocation for experienced candidates appears deliberately biased.
In a separate petition, Lubana Parveen, one of the nearly 26,000 teachers whose appointments were cancelled by the Supreme Court, challenged the same notification before Justice Partha Sarathi Chatterjee. She argued that the notification is in violation of the apex court’s directive, which required the SSC to issue a new recruitment process but did not authorise the creation of an entirely new rule structure.
According to advocate Firdous Shamim, the modified recruitment framework now allots 10 marks for teaching experience, effectively placing dismissed candidates in a 90-mark exam format while fresh applicants face a 100-mark test. Shamim contended that the 2025 recruitment should follow the rules used in 2016, which assigned 35 marks for academic qualifications, 55 for the written test, and 10 for interviews.
Under the 2025 structure, however, academic qualifications carry only 10 marks, written tests 60, and interviews and lecture demonstrations 10 marks each. Shamim argued that these adjustments create a disadvantage for candidates without prior teaching experience. He also highlighted changes to the shortlisting process for interviews, alleging that the candidate-to-post ratio has shifted from 1:1.4 to 1:1.6, in further deviation from established norms.
The WBSSC had issued the latest recruitment notification on May 30, aiming to fill 35,726 vacancies by May 31, as per the Supreme Court’s directive. This includes 23,312 posts for classes 9-10 and 12,514 posts for classes 11-12 in secondary and higher secondary schools across West Bengal.
The Supreme Court, in its April judgment, declared the 2016 recruitment panel “tainted,” resulting in the termination of over 25,000 jobs. It later clarified that “untainted” candidates would continue to receive their salaries until December 2025, while 1,804 individuals were permanently barred from returning to service. The Court also instructed the state government and SSC to file affidavits by May 31 detailing the new recruitment procedure.
Lubana Parveen’s petition further claims that the recent notification and the appointment of 3,000 individuals violates court instructions regarding age exemptions, experience weightage, and examination structure. She alleges that the new notification alters the balance of marks in a way that reduces the weightage for academic qualifications while inflating written test scores, further disadvantaging certain candidates.
With multiple petitions now admitted, and serious allegations of non-compliance with the Supreme Court’s directives raised, the Calcutta High Court is poised to examine the legality and fairness of the state’s current recruitment and stipend policies. The next hearing is scheduled for June 5.