India, April 17 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday said that 'untainted' assistant teachers who lost their jobs after the top court's order can continue to teach. The court said the decision was made in the interest of the students.

The court also directed the West Bengal government to start a fresh recruitment drive by May 31 and complete the process by December 31.

On April 3, the Supreme Court had invalidated the appointments of 26,000 teaching and non-teaching staff in state-sponsored and aided schools after finding large-scale irregularities in the 2016 recruitment by the School Service Commission.

A bench led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar had concluded that the recruitment process in question was fundament...