Tanima Biswas will be disappointed. The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday deferred the hearing in the case of the alleged Bengal School Service Commission jobs scam.

In the last nine months things have not changed much for Tanima. The 33-year old has been teaching physics to students of classes IX and X at the Kakdwip Government Sponsored Ashram High School, around 87km south of Kolkata.

She was hoping for a change in the status quo, and end to being in limbo about the future; the Supreme Court was expected to announce its verdict on the school recruitment scam that has plagued Bengal for nine years and sent a former minister and several officials in the education department behind bars.

Last year on April 22, the names of Tanima and 25,752 other teachers and non-teaching staff were struck off the payrolls of the state education department by the Calcutta high court in its ruling on the government-supervised selection process for school staff, allegedly tainted with bribery and favouritism.

“Fraud perpetrated and perpetuated is deep and pervasive. Any attempt to shift the proverbial grain from the chaff would be an unprofitable exercise, prolonging the agony and putting a premium of dishonesty… we are left with the only option of cancelling all appointments…,” the high court division bench judgment had said.

The high court had annulled all recruitments held over three years as the court could not segregate between those who had cleared the written exams and the interviews on merit, and those who had allegedly employed unfair means like bribes to secure a place on the merit list.

The Bengal government – which is accused of not cooperating with the high court – challenged the high court’s order in the Supreme Court, which announced a stay order in May last year and allowed Tanima and others to continue with their jobs till the apex court gives its verdict.

The Calcutta high court had also allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the irregularities in the appointment and if necessary undertake “custodial interrogation".

The SC allowed the CBI to probe, but without any coercive action.

Tanima, who had left for her hometown Bagdah in North 24-Parganas after the high court verdict, returned to Kakdwip and resumed her classes.

She could resume teaching without any service break and has been receiving her salary on time every month. The clouds of uncertainty that had haunted the young teacher in the summer months last year have returned this winter.

“I don’t know if I will have my job from tomorrow,” Tanima told The Telegraph Online on Monday – a day before the SC deferred its hearing – between breaks at the school where she has been teaching for almost six years.

On December 19 last year, when the division bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar heard a batch of pleas, , including the one filed by the Mamata Banerjee government, challenging the high court order, the SC had asked the state why it had created the supernumerary posts.

The Calcutta high court, too, had asked the state government the same question, but did not get a satisfactory response. The division bench of the Supreme Court, too, was unhappy with the state’s response on the same question.

Referring to the state government’s argument that a committee was formed to probe alleged irregularities in the selection process, the SC bench observed: “So, they found there were irregularities committed. So, in order to deal with that situation, instead of weeding out the persons who have been appointed illegally, you say, okay create supernumerary posts?”

The bench had asked senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, the state’s counsel: “Is the state of West Bengal supporting the proposition that it is not possible to segregate the tainted from the untainted?”

Figures cited by the School Service Commission in the high court verdict revealed 1,539 excess appointments for assistant teachers in classes IX-X and 199 in classes XI-XII, while in the Group-C and Group-D the corresponding figures stood at 669 and 416 respectively.

However, the identity of these 2,823 candidates who found a place in the merit list remain unclear thus putting a question mark on the entire process.

While being occupied with taking her classes, Tanima has also been attending the protest meets that were organised in Kolkata, including marches to the education department’s office in suburban Salt Lake.

“I may come to school tomorrow for some time and then head to Calcutta,” Tanima said on Monday.

The teachers are likely to hit the streets once again on Tuesday. The one answer that they don’t know is how long they will have to be on the streets.