The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will hear on January 15 pleas of the West Bengal government challenging the April 22, 2024 High Court order that invalidated and cancelled the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff in the state government run and aided schools.

At the outset of the hearing today, Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna heading a bench also comprising Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice K V Viswanathan, said that there are two options before it — either a three-judge bench re-hears the case all over again or it be listed it before a two-judge bench that had begun hearing the final arguments on December 19, 2024, – the last date of hearing.

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Noting the submissions advanced by the advocates, the Chief Justice Khanna said that the matter will be heard by a two-judge bench comprising him and Justice Sanjay Kumar and posted the matter for hearing on January 15, 2025, at 02.00 pm.

On December 19, 2024, a bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar had a detailed but inconclusive hearing on a batch of petitions including one by the West Bengal government challenging the High Court order invalidating and canceling the recruitment of teachers and the non-teaching staff for the government-run and aided schools.

During the last (December 19, 2024) hearing, the top court had highlighted the need to examine the authenticity of the electronic data stored in the database of the School Service Commission (SSC) in order to understand whether there can be a distinction made between ‘tainted’ and ‘untainted’ candidates.

On May 7, the Supreme Court had partially stayed the April 22, 2024, Calcutta HC order cancelling the appointment of 25,753 assistant teachers and non-teaching staff in West Bengal state run/aided schools, subject to the final outcome of the hearing, of the petitions challenging the High Court order.

By the May 7, 2024, order, while extending the its November 9, 2023, interim order, the top court bench comprising then Chief Justice Chandrachud (since retired), Justice Pardiwala and Justice Misra in Achinta Kumar Mondal vs Laxmi Tunga case had first granted protection to the teaching and non-teaching staff whose services were to be terminated by an interim order of the High Court.

The November 9, 2023, order was continued by May 7, 2024, order, subject to the condition that “any person who is found to have been appointed illegally and is continued as a consequence of the present order shall undertake to refund the entire amount of the salary which may be paid between the date of this order and the final judgment of this Court.”

Protecting the services of the staff that were ordered to be terminated by an interim order of the High Court, the Supreme Court by its November 9, 2023, order had said, “the direction of the High Court for the termination of the services of candidates at the interim stage, even before the final disposal of the petitions, ought to have been avoided.”

The appointments which are being described as tainted and whose legality is being questioned were made in pursuance to the 2016 State-level test conducted by the School Service Commission. Results were declared on March 3, 2018 and the merit list came on August 28, 2018. The actual joining took place in January-February 2019.

The West Bengal government had on April 24, moved the top court against the High Court’s order invalidating and cancelling the appointment of 25,753 teachers and the non-teaching staff belonging to Group ‘C’ and Group ‘D’ categories made by the State’s School Service Commission (SSC) in state-run schools. Besides the plea by the West Bengal government, there are other petitions challenging the High Court order.