KolkataDecember 5, 2025 08:11 PM IST
First published on: Dec 5, 2025 at 07:57 PM IST
With the Assembly elections right around the corner, the decision of a Calcutta High Court Division Bench to set aside a single Bench order from 2023 that cancelled the appointments of 32,000 primary schoolteachers in West Bengal has come as a major boost for the Trinamool Congress (TMC) ahead of the elections.
For the TMC, which was facing an Opposition backlash earlier this year after the Supreme Court cancelled the appointment of almost 26,000 teachers and non-teaching staff who had cleared the State Level Selection Test (SLST) in 2016 on grounds of large-scale “recruitment corruption”, this is a major reprieve as it will blunt the BJP’s narrative that systemic corruption under its nose had cost thousands of people their jobs.
Though fresh recruitment examinations were held as per a Supreme Court order, the “untainted” candidates from the 2016 list expressed their anger at being made to appear for the exams after teaching for several years and even the new candidates who opposed the extra 10 marks that had been given to the 2016 batch. “We respect the judicial process. I am happy that our brothers and sisters have got their jobs back,” said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The TMC also targeted former Calcutta High Court judge and current BJP MP Abhijit Gangopadhyay who had passed the verdict terminating the jobs of the 32,000 primary teachers. This has allowed the Mamata Banerjee-led party to shift the blame to the BJP. “Justice Gangopadhyay delivered the judgment with a political motive. He got the BJP ticket because of the order to terminate 32,000 teachers. He did pure politics and has now become a BJP MP,” said TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee.
TMC spokesperson Joy Prakash Majumdar told The Indian Express, “The single Bench was more interested in taking away the jobs of 32,000 teachers who were working for nine years without any complaints against them. The order of termination was made on a flimsy complaint of an apparent inappropriate application of procedure. There was an investigation by the CBI that could not conclusively prove corruption. Despite such inadequacy, the judge (Gangopadhyay) terminated the jobs. The Division Bench verdict is not only a win for the 32,000 teachers and a relief for their families, but is also a win for the government and the education department.”
The judgment comes at a time when the government has been pushing its development and social justice message, with Banerjee claiming at a press conference earlier this week that her government had lifted 72 lakh families from poverty in its 14 years in power, “generated more than 2 crore jobs and reduced unemployment by 40%”. The relief for the teachers is expected to bolster this narrative, making it difficult for the BJP to make the case that the TMC government’s apathy and corruption had cost the livelihoods of thousands of people.
Following the verdict, the response from the BJP appeared to be muted, with Gangopadhyay saying the court did what it thought was right and that he would not be able to weigh in on it till he read it. Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said, “I can’t comment on the judiciary’s order, but apparently, there were irregularities in the recruitment process in both TET (Teacher Eligibility Test) and SLST. It is also true that thousands of deserving candidates suffered in both cases due to the presence of tainted candidates in the panel. The TMC is responsible for pushing them to such a situation.”
Pritam Samanta, one of the petitioners in the case, said, “It was a long struggle not only in court but outside too. We faced social backlash; many said our jobs would be lost or that we are tainted. There were no allegations of corruption and yet there were allegations that we bought these jobs. This hurt our dignity; our families were also hurt. This judgment is a big relief.”