School jobs in West Bengal: SC has to decide whether to cancel the selection process or deal with wrongful employment

Last updated:December 12, 2024, 9:58 PM IST

A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, hearing 118 petitions on the issue, said it could not hear them due to lack of time.

Supreme Court of India. (archive photo)

The Supreme Court on Thursday said it will consider whether to cancel the entire selection process to invalidate the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff in government and aided schools in West Bengal or decide on certain cases of malpractice should.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, hearing 118 petitions on the issue, said it could not hear them due to lack of time.

The court, therefore, listed the pleas, including the one filed by the West Bengal government on December 19 against the Calcutta High Court verdict.

The CJI said the hearing would be narrowed down to examine whether the entire selection process should be canceled or limited to hearing specific cases where people were employed unlawfully.

“There is a very limited question – it is whether the entire exam should have been canceled or whether we were able to identify the candidates who passed it incorrectly,” the CJI said, adding that the matter shouldn’t be complicated.

The Calcutta High Court has invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff in government and special schools in West Bengal under the 2016 SSC recruitment process, finding irregularities in the OMR sheets. It had ordered the state authorities to carry out new investigations.

On July 16, the top court granted a final opportunity to the parties to file replies to the pleas challenging the Calcutta High Court order.

The court also issued a set of procedural directions and appointed four advocates as central counsel while asking them to file a joint compilation in electronic form after seeking details from counsel of various parties.

It had appointed advocates Astha Sharma, representing the state government, Shalini Kaul, Partha Chatterjee and Shekhar Kumar as nodal advisors.

The Supreme Court on May 7 granted significant relief to teachers and non-teaching staff in West Bengal whose services were declared invalid by the Supreme Court due to irregularities in the appointment process.

It, however, allowed the CBI to continue its investigation and said it could even investigate members of the state cabinet if necessary.

While granting relief to the pleaders, the bench asked the CBI not to take any hasty action such as arresting a suspect during investigation.

The top court had, however, made it clear that the teachers and non-teaching staff of the state whose appointments were canceled by the Supreme Court would have to refund their salaries and other emoluments if it found that their appointment was illegal.

The question that requires more detailed analysis is whether the incorrect dates could be separated. If it were possible, it would be wrong to put the entire process on hold, the chamber had said.

The top court had also termed the alleged recruitment scam in the state as a “systemic fraud” and said the state authorities were required to preserve the digital records of appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff.

“Public jobs are so scarce…Nothing is left when public trust declines. This is systemic fraud. Public jobs are extremely scarce today and are sought after for social mobility.”

The top court had also said, “What is left in the system if their appointees are also denigrated? People will lose faith, how can you bear this?” Besides canceling the appointments, the Calcutta High Court had also directed the CBI to investigate the appointment process and submit a report within three months.

Over 23 lakh candidates had applied for the State Level Selection Test (SLST) 2016 for 24,640 vacancies. A total of 25,753 letters of appointment were issued for 24,640 vacancies.

The Supreme Court had directed those who were appointed outside the officially available 24,640 vacancies or after the official recruitment date, as well as those who had submitted blank OMR sheets but received appointments, to pay all remuneration and benefits received by them with an annual Interest rate of 12 percent to be refunded four weeks.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI.)