The Supreme Court on Friday "dismissed" a special leave petition (SLP) that sought to stall the recruitment of 14,052 assistant teachers at the upper primary section (Classes VI to VIII) in Bengal's government-aided schools.
The SLP had sought a stay on a Calcutta High Court order, issued in late August, that asked the state school service commission (SSC) to recruit teachers for the upper primary level, nine years after the aspirants had written a test for the jobs.
A division bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said in its written order: "We are not inclined to entertain the special leave petition under Article 136 of the Constitution. The special leave petition is accordingly dismissed. Pending application if any, stands disposed of."
Article 136 says the Supreme Court may, at its discretion, grant special leave to appeal any judgment, decree, determination, sentence or order in any cause or matter passed or made by any court or tribunal in India.
On August 28, a division bench of the high court headed by Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty had directed the commission to prepare and publish the final merit list and a panel of shortlisted names so 14,052 candidates could be appointed.
The bench, while issuing the order, struck down a petition filed by some of the unsuccessful candidates.
The unsuccessful candidates, the high court said, could not halt the recruitment process just because the results were “not palatable to them”.
A school service commission official said "unsuccessful candidates" referred to those whose names did not feature on the merit list drawn up based on the candidates’ performance in the written test, personality test and academic scores.
This newspaper has reported that the unsuccessful candidates had alleged anomalies in the SLST (State Level Selection Test) scores and the academic scores awarded to many of the candidates.
"The unsuccessful candidates sought a stay on the recruitment process, which is underway. We are relieved that the apex court has upheld Calcutta High Court's order," said Siddhartha Majumder, the chairperson of the commission.
The commission started counselling for recruitment of upper primary teachers in early October. The candidates had written the State Level Selection Test in 2015.
Their recruitment was held up following a barrage of cases filed against the recruitment process on grounds of irregularities in the conduct of the exams.
Recruitment at the upper primary level marks the beginning of appointment at any level in the government-run school education system in Bengal in eight years.
In an industry-starved state, many among the young look forward to securing a job as a school teacher to make a living.
Lawyer Kalyan Banerjee, who represented the state government, said the Supreme Court made it clear that the unsuccessful candidates could not stall the recruitment process.
"Those who are unsuccessful are holding protests. But it has to be recognised that they are unsuccessful. There is no point in getting emotional about this. Unsuccessful candidates are repeatedly trying to stall the recruitment process. Calcutta High Court made the same observation. Repeated litigations are only intended to delay the recruitment drive," Banerjee told reporters.
An SSC official said the second leg of the first phase of counselling, which covers schools where the medium of instruction is not Bengali, will continue till October 29.
The second phase of counselling, which will start on November 11 and continue till November 27, will cover only Bengali-medium schools.
