Supreme Court Restores Left-Era Recruitment Process: Over 8,500 Posts Back in Play in Tripura

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, September 1, 2025

In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court of India has ruled that the state government cannot arbitrarily cancel recruitment processes that were already underway and replace them with new recruitment policies. The decision revives more than 8,500 posts across multiple departments in Tripura, many of which were initiated during the Left Front government but later scrapped by the BJP led government in 2018 during the Chief Minister Biplab Deb regime.

The apex court, in its observation, compared recruitment to a game where rules cannot be changed once play has begun. The bench of Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice Rajesh Bindal clarified that the state’s decision to halt or cancel recruitments cannot be arbitrary and must be backed by objective and lawful reasons. The court stressed that processes conducted under established laws and regulations cannot be terminated at the political or executive’s whim.

The ruling specifically addresses several key recruitment drives that had reached advanced stages during the Left Front regime. These included TCS/TPS examinations, Inspector of Boilers posts, and the Tripura State Rifles (TSR) Enrolled Followers recruitment. Many of these had even completed candidate selection phases, with job offers pending only due to the enforcement of the election model code of conduct in early 2018.

However, after coming to power on March 9, 2018, the BJP led government halted all ongoing recruitments. On March 14, a government order suspended the process, followed by the announcement of a new recruitment policy on June 5, 2018. By August 20, all ongoing recruitments from the previous government impacting thousands of aspirants, were officially canceled. This triggered widespread disappointment among job seekers and eventually led to a series of legal battles that reached Tripura High Court to the Supreme Court.

In its final order, the Supreme Court on August 30, 2025 directed:

The TCS/TPS recruitment must be completed within four months, with the publication of the main exam results and the conduct of personality tests as per rules.

The Inspector of Boilers recruitment must be finalized within two months, strictly following the Boilers Act and applicable central and state rules.

The TSR Enrolled Followers recruitment, which had already selected 506 candidates, must be completed within two months, ensuring fairness and adherence to the TSR Act and rules.

The Court also ruled that the state had failed to justify applying the new National Recruitment Policy (NRP) retrospectively to these ongoing processes, declaring such action unlawful and against the principle of fairness.

The verdict is seen as a major relief for thousands of unemployed youth in Tripura whose recruitment dreams were shattered in 2018. With the apex court’s directive, the state government is now obligated to complete the pending recruitment processes fairly, transparently, and within the stipulated timeframe.

more news...