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EC Exempts SSC Officials From Bengal Poll Duty To Speed Up Teacher Recruitment

The Election Commission has exempted officials of the West Bengal School Service Commission from Assembly election-related duties. This decision aims to prevent delays in the state's massive teacher recruitment process, which must be completed by August 31 as per a Supreme Court directive. The SSC had approached the Calcutta High Court, arguing that deputing 24 of its 35 staff for poll work would cripple the recruitment drive. Following the EC's order to relieve the officials, Justice Krishna Rao of the Calcutta High Court disposed of the case.

Key Points: EC Exempts SSC Staff From Bengal Election Duty

  • EC exempts SSC officials from election duty
  • Aims to meet Supreme Court's Aug 31 recruitment deadline
  • 24 officials were appointed as polling officers
  • Calcutta High Court disposes of case after EC's step
  • 26,000 SSC jobs were cancelled in 2025
2 min read

Bengal: EC exempts SSC officials from Assembly election duty​

Election Commission relieves 24 SSC officials from poll work to ensure Supreme Court's August 31 deadline for new teacher recruitment is met.

"the new teacher recruitment process... will not be hindered - Court sources"

Kolkata, April 2

The Election Commission has exempted officials of the School Service Commission engaged in the state teacher recruitment process from Assembly election-related work. ​

As a result, Justice Krishna Rao praised the role of the Election Commission, saying that the new teacher recruitment process underway in 2025, in the case of the cancellation of 26,000 SSC jobs, will not be hindered, court sources said on Thursday.​

On March 1, about 24 officials from the School Service Commission received appointment letters as polling officers. The School Service Commission was forced to approach the Calcutta High Court on March 25. ​

The School Service Commission's lawyer stated that there is doubt as to whether it will be possible to complete the teacher recruitment process by August 31, as directed by the Supreme Court.​

The SSC had requested the bench of Justice Krishna Rao of the Calcutta High Court that 35 employees of the SSC were handling all the work of the School Service Commission, as well as the teacher recruitment process. ​

As a result of deputing 24 of them for polling work, the SSC now has only 11 staff to complete the recruitment.​

Out of these, interviews are underway for the recruitment of teachers and non-teaching staff in schools. In this situation, if those staff are not returned to work, it will not be possible to complete the recruitment process by the Supreme Court's deadline of August 31. ​

The organisation further claims that SSC is an autonomous organisation. Their staff are also employees of the autonomous organisation and those staff cannot be taken from there for election work.​

Today, the Election Commission informed the Calcutta High Court that 24 officers working in the School Service Commission who were appointed for election work have been relieved. ​

The Additional District Magistrate informed on April 1 that they had been relieved of their duties as polling officers. Following the commission's step, Justice Krishna Rao disposed of the case today.​

In the SSC recruitment corruption case, the Supreme Court in April 2025 cancelled the jobs of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching workers. ​

The apex court ordered that the recruitment process for classes 9 to 12 be completed anew. ​

The Supreme Court has directed SSC to complete the new recruitment by August 31 this year. Earlier, the recruitment was ordered to be completed by March.​

- IANS

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Reader Comments

P
Priya S
Good step. But it shows poor planning initially. How could they assign almost 70% of the SSC's working staff to election duty when there is a Supreme Court deadline hanging? The system needs to be more coordinated.
R
Rohit P
Finally some common sense! Our youth have been waiting for years for these jobs because of the corruption scandal. Elections are important, but so is the future of our children and these teachers. Glad the High Court intervened.
S
Sarah B
As someone who has followed this case, it's a relief. The August 31 deadline is tight. Every day counts. Hope the recruitment is transparent this time and deserving candidates get their due.
V
Vikram M
The whole SSC episode is a shame. Corruption robbed so many of their livelihoods. At least now the process is getting priority. EC did the right thing by exempting them. Jai Hind.
K
Karthik V
This is how institutions should work - correcting course when needed. But a question: why did it take a court case for this to happen? Could the EC not have seen this conflict earlier? We need proactive governance, not reactive.

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