Supreme Court Turns Down Efforts to Regularise West Bengal Madrasa Staff Appointments

The Supreme Court on Thursday delivered a decisive verdict, throwing out petitions that sought to regularise the appointment of madrasa teachers and other staff in West Bengal. The pleas, filed by a coalition of madrasa educators and certain activist groups, argued that the state’s appointment process was flawed and that the teachers deserved regular status.

In its judgment, the Court observed that the matter was essentially administrative and that the state government must follow the procedural safeguards already laid down in law. It noted that the West Bengal government had, in fact, issued guidelines for recruitment under the West Bengal Madrasa Education Act, and any deviation from those rules would have to be addressed by the legislature, not the judiciary.

"We are not here to rewrite the statutes or to interfere with the executive’s discretion unless there is a clear violation of law," the bench said, underscoring that the petitions did not demonstrate any statutory breach warranting judicial intervention.

The petitioners had pointed to alleged irregularities in the selection process, claiming that many appointments were made on a contractual basis without the benefit of tenure or appropriate benefits. However, the Court held that such grievances, if any, should be tackled through the appropriate administrative channels and not through a blanket regularisation order.

Legal experts welcomed the judgment, saying it reaffirmed the principle that courts should not overstep into policy matters that are better resolved by the elected government. The decision also sends a clear signal to other states that similar attempts at judicial regularisation may face stiff resistance.

For now, madrasa teachers in West Bengal will continue under the existing contractual framework, while the state government may consider revisiting its recruitment policies to address any genuine concerns raised by the educators.