Kolkata, July 14 (IANS) The hearing on the petition challenging the new rules on “weightage criteria” introduced by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) in its notification for fresh recruitment for teaching posts in state-run schools lying vacant following a Supreme Court in April this year cancelling 25,753 school jobs concluded at a division bench of Calcutta High Court on Monday.

However, the division bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Smita Das kept the order on reserve.

The WBSSC notification for fresh recruitment was challenged on the grounds of the two new “weightage criteria” introduced in the fresh recruitment notification carrying 10 marks each, first under the head of “prior teaching experience” and the second under “lecture demonstration”.

The petitioners contended that the procedure to be followed in the fresh recruitment process should be the same as those followed in 2016, the entire panel of which was cancelled by the Supreme Court in April this year.

In his closing argument, the state government counsel and the advocate general of West Bengal Kishore Datta argued that the petitioners were making wrong interpretations that the apex court in its order in April this year had observed that the rules followed in 2016 should also be followed in fresh recruitment in 2025.

“First, the Calcutta High Court last year and then the Supreme Court in April year only directed fresh recruitments. WBSSC had framed the rules for fresh recruitment as per the Supreme Court’s direction. If the petitioners feel that the Supreme Court order had been violated in the notification for fresh recruitment, they should approach the apex court in the matter. Let the Supreme Court decide,” Datta argued.

The WBSSC counsel and Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member Kalyan Banerjee also argued that there had not been any specific direction from the Supreme Court that the rules followed in 2016 should also be followed in the fresh recruitment process in 2025.

On the other hand, in his closing argument, the counsel for the petitioners, and the CPI-M Rajya Sabha member Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya said that the Supreme Court, in its order, did not authorise WBSSC to change rules in the fresh recruitment process.

–IANS

src/pgh