The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday upheld the latest teachers’ recruitment notification in the government and aided schools of West Bengal, saying the new rules are more stringent and student centric.
Dismissing a bunch of appeals filed by a group of candidates against the single judge bench order, the Division Bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Smita Das De said: “Although the WBSSC and WBBSE are responsible for the present impasse that has adversely impacted and affected the education system, it is high time that all the vacancies are filled up if required by the clubbing the vacancies as the separate recruitment process for vacancies declared in 2016 and beyond it would cause serious inconvenience and delay in filling up existing vacancies.”
The WBSSC had issued a notification for the recruitment of 35,726 teachers — 23,212 for classes 9 and 10, and 12,514 for classes 11 and 12 — on May 30 in compliance with a Supreme Court directive that instructed the state to initiate a fresh recruitment process. The Supreme Court, in April, had ordered cancellation of appointments of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff across government-aided secondary and higher secondary schools calling the 2016 recruitment “tainted”.
The petitioners challenged before the single bench certain provisions of the recruitment rules of 2025 relating to fixation of minimum marks in graduation/post-graduation level to adjudge eligible candidates to participate in the selection process, and changing the pattern of allotment of marks, apart from age relaxation criteria.
Passing the judgment, the bench held that the criteria laid down in the recruitment process of 2025 was intended to select the best of the candidates.
It said that the right to education guaranteed in Article 21-A clearly envisages quality education being imparted to the children which in turn would signify that the teacher must be meritorious and the best of the lot.
“Any process which applied equally to all the candidates and was designed to garner the best talent, cannot be called arbitrary or irrational,” the bench observed.
It said that the constitutional courts in a judicial review are not functioning as appellate authorities to examine the correctness, suitability and appropriateness of a policy, unless the court comes to a finding that there is any violation of fundamental rights of the citizen or is opposed to the provisions of the Constitution.
The bench said that it is the prerogative of the executive to decide how many appointments will be made.
“The interest of the student is of paramount consideration,” the bench said.
On Monday, before the judgment was reserved, Advocate General Kishore Dutta, appearing for the state, defended the notification, stating that it had been framed in line with “modern-day requirements” and was intended for the benefit of students.
In its order, the Division Bench on Wednesday said: “When an expert body has taken a policy decision with regard to the eligibility criteria of candidates to be applied for appointment of teachers and has elaborately laid down the guidelines, the court in judicial review should not substitute the said views with its own perceptions… There cannot be any greater concern for the court than the academic interest of the students. We have come across cases where the pupil teacher ratio is abnormally high and due to non-filling up of vacancies, the students are suffering.” — PTI Inputs