Conclude procedure to appoint over 14,000 as teachers: HC to Bengal
The Calcutta high court on Wednesday directed the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) to complete the appointment process for 14,052 candidates as assistant teachers at upper primary schools either sponsored or aided by the state government.
The Calcutta high court on Wednesday directed the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) to complete the appointment process for 14,052 candidates as assistant teachers at upper primary schools either sponsored or aided by the state government.
According to lawyers who attended the hearing, a division bench of justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and justice Partha Sarathi Chatterjee passed the order after hearing 36 appeals arising out of various orders of a single bench led by former judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay,
challenging the appointment process through the State Level Selection Test (SLST) in 2016. When Gangopadhyay was a judge, these appellants had moved his court, alleging a financial scam in the selection process.
The division bench, however, directed WBSSC to publish the final merit list and selection panel of 14,052 candidates in four weeks and appoint them in 12 weeks, the lawyers said.
The last merit list, which was challenged before the single bench, was published in October 2019.
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% reserved for para-teachers. Dissatisfied with the orders and similar rulings in other writ petitions, the current appeals were filed before the division bench.