It’s not possible to complete the recruitment process of school teachers, group C and D employees in state government-aided schools within three months, said Prof Siddhartha Majumder, chairman of the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC).

While speaking to reporters on Friday after the Supreme Court (SC) invalidated appointments of 25,752 school teachers, group C and D employees on Thursday, Prof Majumder said, “The apex court didn’t mention anything about a three months deadline in its judgment. The appointment process is a lengthy affair and that’s why it’s not possible to complete it within three months.”

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The SC on Thursday upheld the dismissal of these teaching and non-teaching staff recruited in government-aided schools across the state, citing manipulation and a cover-up.

The court, however, has given a second chance to those among the sacked candidates against whom no specific malpractice charge has been proved. They can appear in the next round of recruitment tests with appropriate age relaxations.

“The state government has directed us to start the appointment process soon as per the directives of the SC. We are ready to start it within one or two weeks. We have already discussed the issue with the state government and legal experts,” he added.

“Around 26 lakh candidates had applied for the teaching posts in 2016 of which around 22 lakh appeared in the examination. Out of these, about 1.41 lakh were for Classes IX and X, who appeared in the exam. And for Classes XI and XII, the figure was around 1.50 lakh. That’s why it is not possible to complete the recruitment within three months,” he clarified.

The WBSSC chief has also said that nothing is clear in the judgment about who would be eligible to take part in the new recruitment process. The commission is taking legal opinion, he said.

“Candidates who lost their jobs as per the directive of the SC were 12,905 teachers in class IX-X and for Class XI-XII classes 5,712 teachers have been invalidated by the apex court,” Prof Majumder said.

The school service commission chief denied responsibilities for the SC verdict cancelling the panel of recruitment of 2016.

“We have submitted information to the court but could not satisfy them,” Prof Majumder said.