Supreme Court Upholds Calcutta HC Verdict on WBSSC’s New Recruitment Rules

MP  | Aug 9, 2025 |  Kolkata  :  The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the Calcutta High Court’s judgment that refused to interfere with the new recruitment rules introduced by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) for the fresh recruitment of school teachers.

A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kumar and Satish Chandra Sharma observed that it found “no good ground and reason to interfere with the impugned judgment/order passed by the High Court.”

The case had been brought to the apex court by a group of job aspirants, who challenged the High Court’s decision that dismissed their appeal and upheld the new recruitment process introduced under the West Bengal School Service Commission (Selection for Appointment to the Post of Assistant Teachers for Upper Primary Level Classes IX–X and Classes XI–XII) Rules of 2025.

The petitioners had raised objections to several changes brought in by the 2025 rules—most notably:

• Introduction of an upper age limit,

• Increase in minimum required academic marks from 45% to 50%,

• Introduction of 10-mark weightage for prior teaching experience.

The petitioners argued that the 2024 recruitment notification should adhere to the terms set forth in the original 2016 notification, under which they had earlier applied.

However, the Supreme Court rejected these contentions, stating that age relaxation cannot be granted universally, though it could be considered on humanitarian grounds or in exceptional cases. The Court cited the case of Soma Ray, whose employment was protected on humanitarian grounds, suggesting that age relaxation may be permissible in such individual circumstances, but not as a blanket rule for all candidates.

The High Court division bench, comprising Justices Soumen Sen and Smita Das De, had earlier held that the appellants—having merely participated in the 2016 SLST but neither selected nor appointed—had no vested right to demand consideration under the superseded 2016 rules.

The Supreme Court’s endorsement of the High Court’s stance now clears the way for the WBSSC to continue the fresh recruitment process under the new 2025 rules without legal impediment.