Kolkata, 19 August (H.S.): The West Bengal government on Wednesday informed the Calcutta High Court that it would withdraw two notifications issued by the previous Mamata Banerjee government for creating 1,600 additional posts in upper primary schools for appointments from the waiting list in Physical Education and Work Education.

During the hearing before a Division Bench of Justices Rajasekhar Mantha and others, the state government made it clear that it would not proceed with appointments on the basis of the two notifications issued by the previous government.

The Mamata Banerjee government had created 1,600 additional posts to facilitate appointments from the waiting list for Physical Education and Work Education teachers in the upper primary section. The decision had been taken by the then state Cabinet to address complications arising from the recruitment process. Notifications in this regard were issued on May 19 and October 14, 2022.

However, a single bench of Justice Biswajit Basu had rejected the state government's decision. The court had observed that additional posts could not ordinarily be created for regular recruitment and that such posts could be created only under exceptional circumstances.

The then state government had challenged the single bench order before a Division Bench of the High Court. The matter came up for hearing before the Division Bench headed by Justice Rajasekhar Mantha on Wednesday.

During the hearing, the present state government informed the court that it would not proceed with the recruitment process on the basis of the two earlier notifications and would withdraw them. Advocate Firdaus Shamim represented candidates who had been deprived of appointments in the matter.

The development comes against the backdrop of the larger school recruitment controversy in West Bengal. The Supreme Court had earlier cancelled the entire 2016 School Service Commission recruitment panel in connection with alleged irregularities, resulting in around 26,000 teaching and non-teaching staff losing their jobs.

However, in a related aspect of the case, the Supreme Court had not interfered with the state's decision to create additional posts. Citing that order, the then Mamata Banerjee government had sought relief from the High Court, but its plea was rejected.

Separately, despite allegations of irregularities, the High Court had allowed around 32,000 primary teachers to retain their jobs on humanitarian grounds.

With the withdrawal of the notifications for the 1,600 additional posts, attention will now turn to how the new state government proceeds with the pending recruitment process in the upper primary section.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh