The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) to complete 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, comprising justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, passed the judgment after hearing 36 appeals arising out of various orders of a single bench challenging the appointment process vide the State Level Selection Test (SLST), 2016.

The court instructed the SSC to prepare and publish the final merit list and panel of the 14,052 candidates within four weeks from the date of the order.

The bench directed that within a period of four weeks thereafter, the SSC will hold counselling and recommend all the 14,052 candidates, who appeared in the personality test.

It directed that upon such recommendation, the appointment letters will be issued to the said candidates by the competent authority within a period of four weeks thereafter, in accordance with law.

The selection process for these candidates had been contested through 36 appeals before the division bench, arising from orders of a single judge in various writ petitions concerning the SLST 2016 for recruiting assistant teachers (excluding physical and work education) in government-aided/sponsored schools, except in hill regions.

The SLST 2016 was conducted under the West Bengal School Service Commission (Selection for Appointment to the Posts of Teachers for Upper Primary Level of Schools) Rules, 2016. The interview list was published on August 24, 2019, and the merit list on October 4, 2019.

The selection process faced challenges in multiple writ petitions before a single bench, which had annulled the entire process and directed the SSC to conduct a new selection process for all candidates deemed eligible according to the rules. The Commission was also instructed to verify the validity of Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) certificates, academic qualifications, and professional qualifications as per the rules.

Subsequently, in June 2021, the SSC published a new interview list, revealing a total of 14,339 final vacancies, excluding the 10 per cent reserved for para-teachers. Dissatisfied with the orders and similar rulings in other writ petitions, the current appeals were filed before the division bench.

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