Four more HC cases come in way of SSC teacher appointments

Time of India

2 days ago

Kolkata: Four petitions have been filed in the Calcutta High Court, challenging the new May 29 teacher recruitment rules, 2025, for filling up 44,203 vacancies in the teaching posts in state-run schools.
The petitions also challenge the monthly interim relief of Rs 25,000 and Rs 20,000 for the terminated Group C and Group D employees, which was announced by the state govt on May 30.
The high court has admitted all four petitions. "The two petitions challenging the recruitment rules have been filed separately by classes IX-X and classes XI-XII applicants. The matter was mentioned before Justice Partha Sarathi Chatterjee.
It might be taken up for hearing on June 5 by the bench of Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury," petitioners' lawyer Firdous Samim said. The remaining two petitions challenging the interim relief for Group C and D may come up for hearing on June 9.
The petitioners challenged the new teacher recruitment rules, 2025, notification on many counts, calling it a departure from the Supreme Court order. They maintain that the apex court, while scrapping the 2016 recruitment process, didn't scrap The West Bengal School Service Commission Rules, 2016.
According to the petitioners, the government altered the recruitment rules, 2016, through the new notification in which the weightage for different attainments of candidates was altered.
For instance, 10 marks were allotted to "prior teaching experience", which was not there in the 2016 rules. The petitioners fear that this new parameter was inserted to favour the 26,750 teachers who lost their jobs following the Supreme Court order.
The other clauses disputed are the reduced academic qualification marks from 35 to 10 and increased written examination marks from 55 to 60. A petitioner said, "Many of our fellow protesters who have crossed the stipulated age cannot appear for the exam again, but those who lost their jobs can appear even if they exceed the upper age limit."
Lubana Parvin, a petitioner, said: "We have been fighting for the last 10 years for justice, but the new recruitment rule has made it more difficult for us as it has given added advantage to the teachers who lost their jobs.
The provision for 10 marks to be given for lecture demonstration means we will get nothing as we have never participated in classroom teaching. Many of the waitlisted candidates cannot appear for the test as they have crossed 40 years.
The age relaxation has been given to the jobless teachers only; why have we been deprived of this relaxation?"
The other petitions questioned why those empaneled as wait-listed candidates in Group C and Group D categories wouldn't get the monthly relief when those who first got the jobs out of the fraudulent process were entitled to the relief.
Roy Banerjee)