HC bars 1600 supernumerary posts for SLST-2016 hiring

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday held that the Bengal government’s creation of 1,600 supernumerary posts for Work Education and Physical Education teachers in 2022 did not comply with mandatory recruitment rules, and therefore the posts cannot be used to appoint candidates from the SLST-2016 waitlist.

Justice Biswajit Basu examined the state’s May 19, 2022 notification—which sanctioned 750 posts for Work Education and 850 for Physical Education—and found that these vacancies were created without following Rule 8 of the 2016 Recruitment Rules, including the requirement that vacancies be formally notified before any recommendation is made.

The court observed that the posts were “apparently new vacancies” and could not be filled by recommending names from the 2016 panel or waitlist under Rule 16.

The court noted that the SLST-2016 waitlist had expired on December 11, 2019. Candidates shown as waitlisted therefore had no subsisting legal status when the posts were created in 2022. The judgment records that an expired panel cannot serve as the basis for filling new vacancies.

Rejecting the state’s preliminary objection, the court held that the petitioners — unsuccessful candidates of the 2016 test — were entitled to challenge the 2022 notifications. It found that the issues raised mixed questions of law and fact and could not be dismissed solely because the petitioners were not on the waitlist.

The October 14, 2022 counselling notice issued by the School Service Commission for appointments to these posts formed part of the challenge considered by the court. The judgment confined itself to examining the legality of creating and filling these posts through the 2016 waitlist.

The court clarified that other allegations regarding irregularities in the 2016 selection process remain pending and will be taken up separately.