Major Verdict in Primary Recruitment! High Court Orders Joint Recruitment for 20-22, Unabsorbed, 5% Panels, Relief for Aspirants

Primary Recruitment: In a significant development concerning the 2022 primary teacher recruitment process, the Calcutta High Court has issued a crucial directive. Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty’s division bench today clarified that the remaining of 11,765 vacancies must be filled by jointly considering candidates from the 20-22 batch, the Unabsorbed panel, and the 5% additional panel. The case was listed as the number one item in Court No. 11 today. Advocate Ali Ahasan Alamgir provided the detailed information regarding the case.

Core Argument of the Case

The primary argument of this case was straightforward and merit-focused. The petitioners contended that the remaining vacancies must be filled by deserving candidates based on merit, without giving preference to any single group. The petitioners had previously approached the Supreme Court, which granted them the liberty to move the High Court for resolution.

In its order on April 4th, the Supreme Court had directed the swift completion of the recruitment process for the remaining vacancies. However, the order did not specify that these vacancies should be reserved exclusively for candidates from the 20-22 batch.

Suspicions arose when the Board of Primary Education, instead of filing an affidavit in the High Court, directly filed an MA (Miscellaneous Application) in the Supreme Court. This application repeatedly mentioned only the 20-22 batch and sought reclassification of the vacancies for them. This led the petitioners to apprehend that the Board might be attempting to provide jobs to a specific batch of candidates. The petitioners’ stance is clear: the Supreme Court did not earmark vacancies for any particular category, and therefore, recruitment must be based on merit.

The Board’s Affidavit and the Court’s Directive

During the hearing, the Board of Primary Education submitted an affidavit in court. In this affidavit, they have stated that merit will not be compromised in the recruitment process. Advocate Ali Ahasan Alamgir welcomed this step, noting that allegations of merit compromise had frequently surfaced in the past during the 2014 and 2017 TET recruitments.

The court has officially recorded this affidavit today and issued a clear directive based on it. The order states:

• Only a single category of candidates cannot be considered for filling the remaining vacancies.
• Since the Supreme Court has not issued any such directive, all eligible candidates must be considered.
• If the petitioners are ahead on the merit list, they must also be given a chance.

Since the Board has already issued appointment letters from a published panel and does not wish to disturb it, the cut-off marks will naturally have to be lowered to fill the remaining posts. This will provide an opportunity for many deserving candidates who were previously excluded from the panel by a fraction of a mark.

Future Course of Action

Advocate Ali Ahasan Alamgir has stated that they will keep a close watch on the Board’s next steps. If the Board resorts to any lack of transparency or fails to fill all the vacancies (as was the case with the 3929 posts), they will approach the court again.

Meanwhile, another group has filed a contempt case in this matter, which is expected to expedite the process of publishing the recruitment panel. The primary objective for all is to ensure the panel is published quickly, transparently, and strictly based on merit, to avoid any future litigation.