Ali Hossain Mandal & Ors. vs. West Bengal Board of Primary Education & Ors.
Background
In December 2020, the West Bengal Board of Primary Education notified 16,500 vacancies for primary school teachers open to candidates who had passed the 2014 Teacher Eligibility Test, and published merit lists covering all the posts. Under the applicable recruitment rules, that merit panel was valid for only one year and lapsed in February 2022. Only in May 2022, roughly three months after the panel had already expired, did a group of unappointed candidates approach the Calcutta High Court seeking appointment to the remaining unfilled vacancies by lowering the qualifying cut-off marks. Both the Single Judge and the Division Bench ruled in the candidates' favour, directing that the leftover vacancies be filled from the expired 2014 list; the Board and other affected candidates appealed to the Supreme Court.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court held that the merit list published in February 2021 automatically stood extinguished after one year under Rule 12 of the West Bengal Primary School Teachers Recruitment Rules, 2016, and no competent authority had granted it any extension. Candidates who moved the court only after the list had already lapsed could not be granted appointments from it, especially once a fresh recruitment process for new vacancies had already begun in October 2022. The Court also found the High Court's method of shortlisting candidates inconsistent with the procedure mandated under Rule 8. It set aside both the Division Bench and Single Judge orders, holding the affected writ petitioners had no legitimate claim to appointment under the 2020 recruitment process.
Lesson Learnt
A recruitment merit list has a fixed validity period fixed by the governing rules; once it lapses without a formal extension, courts will not revive it to create fresh appointment rights, particularly for candidates who delayed approaching the court until well after the list had already expired.