Calcutta HC Orders Completion Of 14,000+ Assistant Teacher Appointments

Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the West Bengal School Service Commission to finalize the appointment process for 14,052 candidates as assistant teachers in state government-sponsored and aided upper primary schools within 12 weeks.

A division bench of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Partha Sarathi Chatterjee issued this order after hearing 36 appeals challenging the appointment process through the State Level Selection Test of 2016. The court instructed the SSC to prepare and publish the final merit list and panel of the 14,052 candidates within four weeks.

Following the publication of the merit list, the SSC is required to hold counseling sessions and recommend the candidates who appeared in the personality test within the next four weeks. Appointment letters are to be issued by the competent authority within another four weeks, in accordance with the law.

The selection process had faced legal challenges in multiple writ petitions, leading a single bench to annul the entire process and order a new selection round. The SSC was also directed to verify the validity of Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) certificates and other qualifications.

In June 2021, the SSC published a new interview list, identifying 14,339 final vacancies, excluding a 10% reservation for para-teachers. Dissatisfied with the previous orders, the current appeals were filed before the division bench.