Top court allows 'untainted' teachers to resume service

The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the untainted assistant teachers, who lost their jobs following the court's earlier order in the West Bengal recruitment scam, to continue in service until fresh hiring is made even as it imposed strict conditions on the state for issuing ads by May 31 and completing the recruitment process by December 31.

- Abraham Thomas

NEW DELHI:

The order was passed by a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and justice Sanjay Kumar on an application moved by untainted teachers to continue in service till the end of the academic year or till the time the fresh recruitment process is completed.

The bench said, "We are inclined to accept the prayer in the present application in so far as it relates to the assistant teachers of Classes IX-X and Classes XI-XII." The court passed the order subject to the West Bengal government, West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) and West Bengal Board of Primary Education submitting an undertaking to issue advertisements for fresh recruitments for assistant teachers and Group C and D employees in state-run schools by end of May this year and complete the recruitment process by December 31, 2025.