West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has announced that the state government will give appointment letters to at least one lakh job seekers by 8 May 2027, with recruitments planned across schools, police, panchayats and other departments.
The announcement was made at Nabanna during an appointment-letter distribution programme for newly recruited officials of the Cooperation Department. The chief minister said the government had already approved or initiated recruitment for 63,496 vacant posts between taking office and 31 October. Of these, 60,838 were described as permanent and regular positions.
According to the figures presented at the event, 33,409 vacancies are being filled across school-level teaching and non-teaching posts. The police and Home Department are expected to recruit 12,147 people to regular positions, while 7,119 vacancies have been identified in gram panchayats and other panchayat-level departments. A further 5,409 recruitment processes involving the Kolkata Police and state police are at the final stage.
The government has already issued appointment letters to 10,233 police constables, including 3,044 women constables. At Wednesday’s event, appointment letters were also handed to more than 150 newly recruited cooperation inspectors. The chief minister said some selected candidates had taken up other jobs, leaving a number of positions vacant, while the remaining candidates would be called in phases after completion of police verification.
Adhikari said all administrative and legal procedures for the government’s recruitment target would be completed by 8 May 2027. “We will give appointment letters to at least one lakh job seekers in schools, police and various government departments by 8 May 2027,” he said, adding that the number could exceed one lakh but would not fall below that figure. He described the commitment as a written responsibility of the government.
The announcement also addressed concerns over the conduct of recruitment examinations and appointments. Adhikari said the Public Service Commission, School Service Commission, Police Recruitment Board and Staff Recruitment Board were autonomous bodies and would be allowed to function independently. He assured candidates that there would be no political or administrative interference in the recruitment process.
The government said it was following a model similar to the Centre’s Rozgar Mela, under which appointment letters are distributed through large public events after recruitment recommendations are received. The state had earlier distributed police appointment letters at Netaji Indoor Stadium before beginning the second phase with the Cooperation Department appointments.
The recruitment programme places the administrative focus on filling sanctioned vacancies across departments while completing verification and other legal procedures. The next steps identified at the event are the approval of additional vacancies pending with the Finance Department, completion of police verification for selected candidates and phased distribution of appointment letters before the May 2027 deadline.
