TMC welcomes Supreme Court’s decision extending tenure of untainted sacked teachers for now

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision allowing untainted teachers — whose appointments were earlier invalidated — to continue in service until December 31.

The party also accused the BJP and CPI(M) of attempting to ruin the future of deserving candidates through "political conspiracies." In a post on X, the All India Trinamool Congress said, "From the very beginning, Smt. @MamataOfficial has maintained that no deserving teacher shall be unfairly penalised. Today, the Supreme Court has allowed them to serve till 31st December 2025. We welcome the verdict. We won't let @BJP4India and @CPIM_WESTBENGAL's political conspiracies destroy people's futures."

The reaction came after a bench on Thursday comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar took note of the state government's submissions that teaching in various schools has been adversely impacted and fresh recruitment will take time.

The TMC views the ruling as a much-needed reprieve for untainted teaching staff whose appointments were among the 25,753 annulled earlier this month after the apex court deemed the recruitment process "vitiated and tainted." Acknowledging the state’s concerns about widespread disruption in school education, the court permitted untainted teachers to remain in service until the end of 2025.

However, the same relief was not extended to non-teaching staff in Group C and D categories.

The court also directed the state government and West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) to begin the fresh recruitment process by May 31 and complete it by December 31.

The apex court had earlier upheld a Calcutta High Court verdict that scrapped all appointments made through a controversial recruitment drive, directing tainted candidates to return the salaries they had received.

On April 3, the top court invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and staffers in the state-run and aided schools, calling the entire selection process "vitiated and tainted."