In a significant ruling on Thursday, the Supreme Court of India provided interim relief to government school teachers in West Bengal, allowing those deemed “eligible” — particularly assistant teachers for Classes IX to XII — to continue in their current posts, pending the completion of a new recruitment process by the end of this year.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Sanjeev Khanna made it clear that the continuation of these teachers would be subject to strict conditions, including the timely initiation and completion of a fresh selection process.
The Court directed the West Bengal government to publish the recruitment advertisement no later than May 31, 2025, and to ensure the entire hiring process — from examination to final appointments — is wrapped up by December 31, 2025.
“We are inclined to accept the prayer regarding assistant teachers for Classes IX, X, and XI-XII, but this relief is conditional,” CJI Khanna stated.
He emphasized that the extension would not apply to Group-IV candidates, drawing a clear distinction between teaching staff and other categories of employees.
The apex court also refused to extend the same leniency to Group C and Group D employees, citing the overwhelming number of cases involving fraud and irregularities among these categories.
“We are not inclined to accept the prayer as far as Group C and D candidates are concerned, since the number of tainted candidates is considerably high,” CJI Khanna remarked.
The judgment places a clear timeline and responsibility on the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government. The state is now required to issue a formal recruitment advertisement by the end of May and submit an affidavit to the court confirming both the advertisement and a detailed schedule for the hiring process.
Failure to meet these deadlines could invite further orders from the Court, including possible financial penalties, the bench warned.
During the hearing, Senior Advocate N.K. Kaul, representing the state, pointed out that the recruitment process for teachers had remained stalled since 2016 due to ongoing litigation linked to the high-profile cash-for-jobs scam that rocked the state’s education system.
The Chief Justice was also explicit in clarifying that the Court’s permission for the teachers to continue temporarily should not be misconstrued as a guarantee of preferential treatment or any special consideration when the new recruitment process begins.
“This order should not be read as granting any special rights or advantages to the teachers in the upcoming recruitment exercise,” the CJI stated.
This Supreme Court order comes in the wake of a sweeping verdict earlier this month, when the Court upheld the cancellation of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching appointments made under a recruitment process tainted by allegations of large-scale corruption and manipulation.
The division bench, which included CJI Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, had concluded that the selection process was “irreparably vitiated” by fraud and malpractice.
In that ruling, the Court firmly stated:
“In our opinion, this is a clear-cut case where the entire selection process has been compromised. The manipulation and fraud were conducted on such a large scale, combined with efforts to conceal the wrongdoing, that the integrity of the process has been destroyed beyond repair.”
The bench also upheld the cancellation of appointments for candidates who were specifically identified as “tainted” during the investigation, underlining that the scale of irregularities violated the principles of fairness and equality enshrined in Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution.
Earlier this month, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had assured thousands of dismissed teachers and non-teaching staff — during a gathering at Netaji Indoor Stadium on April 7 — that her government would seek clarification from the Supreme Court.
Banerjee had argued that the sudden removal of a large number of teachers, especially those not found guilty of wrongdoing, could result in a severe disruption of teaching services across the state’s secondary and higher secondary schools.
With the Court’s latest decision, the state has been offered a temporary solution to avoid such administrative collapse, but only under the condition that a fresh, transparent recruitment process is completed within the stipulated time.