HC refuses to interfere with stay on upper primary recruitments
Times of India | 21 May 2025
Kolkata: A division bench of Calcutta High Court on Tuesday refused to interfere with the single bench's order to continue the interim stay on recruitment in supernumerary posts in upper primary schools.The division bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Smita Das De refused to interfere as the matter was being heard by Justice Biswajit Basu. This was in response to an appeal made by a section of job seekers.Their lawyers argued that the interim stay had been in force for a long time.Justice Basu on May 7 extended the interim stay on the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) from giving appointments in the supernumerary posts in physical education and work education categories. The next hearing is on June 18.The school education department on May 19, 2022, created 6,861 supernumerary posts of assistant teachers in work education and physical education categories, including non-teaching staff, to accommodate candidates on the wait list. The high court on Nov 18, 2022, imposed the interim stay till Dec 1, 2022, which was extended from time to time. On Feb 10, 2023, it was extended till the end of April 2023. In this backdrop, the state filed an application to vacate the interim order.Advocate general Kishore Datta submitted that the interim order was not in force after April 2023. However, the application for vacating the interim order was filed under the impression that the same was still subsisting. He told the court, "The continuance of the said interim order is causing unnecessary hardship to the recommended candidates, and the students due to non-availability of teachers in work education and physical education categories."Biswaroop Bhattacharya, an advocate for other added respondents, submitted that the recommendedcandidates were facing undue hardship due to the non-issuance of the appointment letters.