The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed West Bengal teachers who were found not to be involved in irregularities during a 2016 recruitment process to be retained till a fresh hiring process is completed by the end of 2025, Live Law reported.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna said that the extension to their services was being allowed out of concern for students studying between Class 9 and Class 12.

The order is subject to the condition that the state government and the West Bengal School Service Commission completes the fresh recruitment process for assistant teachers for Class 9 to Class 12 by December 31, 2025, Live Law reported.

The court, however, did not grant relief to Group C and Group D employees, or non-teaching staff, whose appointments were also cancelled.

The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education had moved the Supreme Court on April 7 seeking modification of its order that upheld the termination of about 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff.

The education board had asked the court to allow teachers “not found to be tainted” by the bribery allegations to continue their work until the end of the academic year or until fresh appointments are made, whichever is earlier.

This came four days after the Supreme Court upheld the Calcutta High Court order that had declared as null and void the 2016 State Level Selection Test for recruitment in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided schools.

The High Court bench had passed its direction in April 2024 based on the findings of a re-evaluation of the Optical Mark Recognition sheets from the 2016 recruitment exam in the case.

The re-evaluation found that the selected teachers had been recruited against blank Optical Mark Recognition sheets.

Taking note of this, the Supreme Court had said: “Regarding findings of this case, entire selection process is vitiated by manipulation and fraud and credibility and legitimacy is denuded.”

The state board told the Supreme Court on April 7 that after its order, services of 17,206 out of the 1.5 lakh existing teachers were being terminated. This “would have a devastating impact across the schools in the state”, the board had argued.

The petition was filed on the same day West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she would do everything possible to restore the dignity of those who lost their jobs in the state.