West Bengal to merge Madrasah Service Commission with WBSSC, bill likely after Durga Puja

The West Bengal government will introduce a bill in the state legislative assembly, tentatively after the Durga Puja, to curtail the powers of the state Madrasah Service Commission set up by the Left Front and empower the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) to recruit teachers for madrasahs alongside other state-run or state-aided institutions, officials aware of the development said on Thursday.

“The decision was taken by the state cabinet in September and chief minister Suvendu Adhikari announced it in public on October 6. He said the Madrasah Service Commission would be merged with the WBSSC,” a bureaucrat said, requesting anonymity.

After coming to power in May, the Bharatiya Janata Party government took several steps that raised eyebrows, especially in the Left Front, which had set up the West Bengal Madrasah Service Commission through an Act passed in 2008.

Several petitions were filed at the Calcutta high court challenging the 2008 Act. The petitioners argued that a government aiding the minority institutions could frame appointment guidelines for teachers but could not act as the appointer itself.

“The high court passed a verdict in 2018 in favour of the petitioners but in 2020 a Supreme Court division bench upheld the validity of the Act and the appointments cleared by the Madrasah Service Commission,” a second state bureaucrat said.

On June 22, weeks after the BJP came to power, finance minister Swapan Dasgupta presented a net budget of ₹4,38,775.29 crore for 2026-2027, saying his government “envisions a state that is prosperous yet compassionate, modern yet rooted in tradition, globally competitive yet locally inclusive.”

Of the 100,000 vacancies to be filled up in state government departments, 50,000 would go to teachers, professors and non-teaching staff, Dasgupta said in his budget speech. The allocation for minority affairs and madrasah education was kept at ₹2,165.42 crore. In comparison, the medium, small and micro enterprises (MSME) department was allotted ₹1,814.60 crore.

On September 7, chief minister Adhikari said Aliah University’s control would be transferred from the state minority affairs and madrasah education department to the higher education department. Nobody opposed the decision.

CPI(M) state secretary Md Salim alleged on Thursday that the BJP government has focused only on “abolishing and demolishing” in Bengal.

“They are bent on abolishing and demolishing everything, from the Aliah University to the madrasahs. The Left Front governent had set up seperate service commissions for madrasahs and general colleges and schools to ensure fairness in recruitment. The last (Trinamool) governent did not recruit any school teacher through the WBSSC in 15 years. Instead, all we witnessed was a big recruitment scam whch is being probed,” Salim told HT.

“The BJP is not bothered about recruitment. The actions regarding Aliah University and the Madrasah Service Commission expose its political intent. They want to further marginalize the minority. It is not learning a lesson from the young generation’s agitation in Delhi,” Salim said.

Bengal BJP’s chief spokesperson Debjit Sarkar justified the state’s action, saying the masses would appreciate it.

“The Marxists have experimented with constructions and deconstructions for ages. In Bengal, we are taking some major steps which the erstwhile governments shied away from. Once the masses witness the positive effects of these actions they will appreciate them. However, the Marxists won’t be around by then. They will be rejected completely,” Sarkar told HT.

Sarkar said the WBSSC cannot be packed away for good just because of the corruption in teacher recruitment during the TMC era.

“What happened was the fallout of coruption by TMC leaders. The WBSSC cannot be held responsible it it forever. Nobody has opposed the idea of letting the WBSSC take over the responsibilities of the Madrasah Service Commission,” Sarkar said.