SANDIP ROY Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners in the present writ petition are primary school teachers appointed in February 2025 under the much-delayed recruitment process initiated in 2009 by the North 24-Parganas District Primary School Council. The recruitment notification, published on 23/4/2010, prescribed only Madhyamik or equivalent qualification with the ability to read and write in the chosen medium. Many of the petitioners, being university graduates with B.Ed. training, applied and duly appeared in the written examination in February 2011. Following allegations of irregularity, favouritism and manipulation, the then Governor of West Bengal, by an order dtd. 21/6/2012, annulled the process for four districts including North 24-Parganas and directed de-novo examinations.

(2.) The de-novo examination was conducted in March 2014 followed by aptitude tests and interview in November the same year. Based on academic records, written test and interview performance, panels were prepared and duly approved by the Commissioner of School Education in June 2015. Despite this approval, the District Primary School Council did not release appointments, leaving eligible candidates waiting. Protracted litigation ensued and ultimately, this Court in January 2021 directed the Council to publish panels and issue appointments, even by creating supernumerary posts. As a result, a panel was published in February 2021 and appointments were given to a batch of empanelled candidates later in 2021. However, the entire process continued to face judicial scrutiny because many eligible candidates were left out. In April 2024, by a comprehensive order passed by Hon'ble Justice Rajasekhar Mantha, it was directed that all candidates called to the interview in the 2009 process, provided they had filed writ petitions by 24/4/2024, would be entitled to appointments. In consequence, the present petitioners too received appointment letters, albeit only in 2025, bringing closure to a recruitment exercise that had stretched for over sixteen years.

(3.) In the intervening years, there were transformative changes in the law of teacher qualifications under Sec. 23 of the Right to Education Act, 2009. Notifications of the National Council for Teacher Education in 2010 and 2011 mandated minimum qualifications of Higher Secondary with 50% marks together with D.El.Ed., or Graduation with D.El.Ed. For a time, candidates with B.Ed. degrees were also considered eligible, provided they underwent a six-month Bridge Course. This temporary window was expanded through the 2018 notification, which allowed B.Ed. holders to be directly recruited to primary schools subject to such course. However, that notification per se was challenged and set aside by the Supreme Court in August 2023 in Devesh Sharma v. Union of India reported in (2023) 18 SCC 339, which held that B.Ed. was not an appropriate qualification for primary school pedagogy.