The Calcutta High Court has annulled the West Bengal Education Department's decision to create 1,600 supernumerary posts for upper primary teachers in state-run schools. Justice Biswajit Basu, presiding over the single-judge bench, stated that supernumerary posts cannot be created for regular primary teacher appointments, and can only be justified in special circumstances.
The ruling directly impacts notifications issued by the state Education Department on May 19, 2022, and October 14, 2022. These notifications concerned the recruitment of upper-primary teachers for physical education and work education from existing waiting lists, facilitated by the creation of these 1,600 supernumerary posts. The creation of these posts was challenged in the Calcutta High Court, leading to the recent ruling.
The legal challenge to the supernumerary posts has seen several stages. In 2022, the Calcutta High Court initially placed an interim stay on the creation of these posts. The state government then appealed to the Supreme Court, but the apex court declined to intervene. Subsequently, the West Bengal government returned to the Calcutta High Court, seeking the removal of the interim stay. Justice Basu upheld the interim stay on May 7 of this year. The state government then appealed to a division bench comprising Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Smita Das De, but this bench also maintained the interim stay, which resulted in the matter being referred back to Justice Basu's bench. Finally, Justice Basu's single-judge bench scrapped the state government's decision to create the supernumerary posts.
The backdrop to this decision involves the broader issue of appointments of teachers and non-teaching staff made by the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) in 2016. The Supreme Court had previously addressed the matter of 25,753 appointments made by the SSC, opining that it would be unfair to invalidate all appointments if legitimately appointed individuals could be separated from those with tainted appointments. The court also stated that those found to be illegally appointed would be required to refund their salaries. Earlier in April 2025, the Supreme Court had nullified a Calcutta High Court directive for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the West Bengal State Cabinet's decision to create supernumerary posts in state-run and aided schools. However, the Supreme Court clarified that other directives from the Calcutta High Court regarding the termination of the 25,753 teachers and staff members would remain in effect. The initial recruitments by the WBSSC in 2016 were connected to a "cash-for-school jobs recruitment 'scam'". The Supreme Court agreed with the High Court's assessment that the selection process was compromised by manipulations and fraud.
