Supreme Court grants interim relief to West Bengal SSC teachers: What this means for them
Teachers from West Bengal who lost their jobs following a Supreme Court verdict stage a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on April 16, 2025 | PTI
On Thursday, the Supreme Court granted interim relief to teachers who lost their jobs after the cancellation of the entire 2016 West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) panel but are not listed as “tainted.” These teachers have been allowed to continue teaching until new appointments are made.
The order came from a division bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, along with Justice Sanjay Kumar, following an appeal by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE). The court also directed the state to complete the fresh recruitment process by December 31, 2025.
The bench emphasised that the decision was made keeping students’ interests in mind. The sudden dismissal of over 17,000 assistant teachers for classes 9 to 12 had caused a severe teacher shortage in many state government and government-aided schools.
CJI Khanna’s bench, however, did not grant the non-teaching staff (Group C and D), who had also lost their jobs following the cancellation of the 2016 SSC panel, the same relief as the number of tainted candidates in this category was substantially high.
Additionally, the state and the SSC were instructed to issue a fresh recruitment notification by May 31 and to submit an affidavit producing the notification before that date.
While the order offers temporary relief to untainted teachers who lost their jobs through no fault of their own, it falls short of meeting their demand for unconditional reinstatement.
They want the state government to file a review petition in the Supreme Court, supported by a verified list of qualified candidates, which will separate them from those who obtained jobs through fraudulent means.
They are also demanding the public release of mirror images of OMR sheets or answer scripts of candidates from the 2016 SSC panel.
In a meeting held last week with teaching and non-teaching staff, West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu promised that the list and OMR sheet images would be made public by April 21. However, the state has yet to file the review petition.
India