The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday stayed the appointment process of 14,500 teachers initiated by the School Service Commission for upper primary schools in West Bengal.

Hearing a petition alleging that prescribed rules were not followed in conducting the appointment process, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay ordered the interim stay on the process for which a list of candidates to be interviewed was published by the education department. The stay will be in force till further orders, the court directed.

The matter will come up for hearing again on Friday, Justice Gangopadhyay directed. The petition by some candidates claimed that the rules of the West Bengal School Service Commission were not followed in preparing the interview list. Petitioners' lawyer Firdaus Shamim claimed that the score obtained by a candidate in written examination and other criteria was not mentioned in the list besides the names of candidates who were selected for interview. The petitioners claimed that they were not selected for interview despite having obtained a better score than many others whose names appeared on the list.