West Bengal’s cabinet has decided to bar teachers appointed in state-run and state-aided schools through the School Service Commission from joining active politics or contesting elections, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said on Wednesday. The proposed restriction would cover panchayat, municipal, Lok Sabha and assembly elections.
Adhikari said the cabinet had approved the move as part of an effort to restore the dignity of the teaching profession and improve the quality of education. The restriction would apply only to teachers appointed in the future, while existing schoolteachers involved in politics would not be asked to withdraw from political activity under the decision announced so far.
The chief minister said the government would incorporate the provision into the West Bengal School Service Commission’s teacher recruitment process. The announcement did not specify whether a separate law, amendment to existing service rules or another legal instrument would be used to enforce the prohibition.
The proposal immediately raised questions about the legal status of teachers in state-run and aided schools and the extent to which the government can restrict their political rights. Rule 22(1) of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education’s 2018 rules currently states that teachers and non-teaching staff may, subject to applicable rules and approval from the committee, participate in democratic processes, including contesting elections to Parliament, state legislatures, local self-government bodies and statutory or voluntary organisations.
Senior advocate Samim Ahmed said the government would have to amend the law to implement the cabinet decision. Senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya said any amendment could be challenged, arguing that restricting future recruits while allowing existing teachers to participate could raise questions of unequal treatment.
Bhattacharyya also said teachers in state-run and aided schools are grant-in-aid employees rather than direct government employees. In his view, the government would need to classify them as government employees and provide the statutory protections associated with that status if it wanted to impose the proposed restriction. The report also noted that the Supreme Court has distinguished grant-in-aid employees from government employees.
The legal debate also intersects with constitutional provisions on elected representatives holding an office of profit. Article 102(1)(a) deals with disqualification from Parliament, while Article 191(1) applies a similar provision to members of state legislatures. The applicability of these provisions to schoolteachers and the proposed recruitment condition remains contested in the material available.
The announcement follows a separate cabinet decision in September to enable the higher education department to transfer professors between universities. That proposal led to the West Bengal Universities and Colleges (Administration and Regulation) (Amendment) Bill being passed by the assembly, although the bill had not been enacted at the time of the report and legal opinion remained divided over its validity.
Teachers have historically played a visible role in Bengal’s electoral politics. The report said several current ministers, including School Education Minister Dipak Barman, Irrigation Minister Arup Kumar Das and junior Food Processing and Horticulture Minister Amiya Kisku, are schoolteachers. The government has not publicly detailed the implementation timetable or the precise legal changes required for the new restriction.
