Supreme Court Orders Revival of Left-era Recruitment: CPM Welcomes Move, Silence on Tripura High Court Fixed Pay Verdict Raises Questions

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, January 8, 2026

Senior leaders of the CPI(M) have expressed strong satisfaction following the implementation of Supreme Court directives to revive recruitment processes initiated during the Left Front government in Tripura, which were cancelled after the BJP came to power in 2018.

According to the Supreme Court’s orders, the state government has begun issuing appointment letters to candidates whose selections were finalized under the Left Front regime but later annulled. In the first phase, more than 30 cancelled appointment letters related to TCS and TPS posts were issued. Subsequently, in compliance with the same directions, over seven hundred appointment offers for Tripura State Rifles (TSR) jawans have started being dispatched through the postal system from yesterday.

Welcoming the development, CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Choudhury and former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar issued statements expressing their satisfaction. They stated that well before the 2018 Assembly elections, the Left Front government had initiated recruitment processes for nearly ten thousand vacant posts across various departments. However, due to the announcement of election dates, appointment letters could not be handed over to all selected and eligible candidates.

They further alleged that after assuming power, the BJP-led government scrapped all recruitment selection lists indiscriminately. This decision was challenged in court, and through a series of judgments, the Supreme Court declared the BJP government’s cancellation of these recruitment processes illegal. The apex court not only struck down the cancellation but also directed the state authorities to issue appointment letters without further delay to candidates whose selections had been finalized during the Left Front tenure.

Following these directions, the distribution of appointment offers to TSR jawans selected during the Left Front government has commenced, a move that the Left leadership has described as a vindication of their stand.

However, on the same way, today, a significant judgment was delivered by a Division Bench of the Tripura High Court led by the Chief Justice. The court struck down the rules framed in 2001 and 2007 that allowed appointments against regular vacant posts on a fixed pay scale. The High Court declared these rules unconstitutional and directed that employees appointed under these provisions be granted regular pay scales from the very first day of their service, along with arrears with 9% interest.

Notably, neither CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Choudhury nor former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has issued any reaction to this High Court verdict so far. The Tripura government has also remained silent on the judgment.

In the aftermath of the High Court’s ruling, demands have intensified for legal action against those administrative officials who, allegedly to please political masters, supported and implemented unconstitutional rules. It is being alleged that such actions deprived thousands of unemployed youths of their rightful entitlements, and the latest verdict has once again brought accountability of such officials into sharp focus.

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