"Vitiated and tainted": SC invalidates 25,753 West Bengal teacher posts
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New Delhi: In a major jolt to the West Bengal government, the Supreme Court has invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and other staff in state-run and state-aided schools, declaring the entire selection process "vitiated and tainted".
The Supreme Court has upheld a Calcutta High Court verdict dated April 22, 2024, annulling the appointments of 25,753 teachers and staff in West Bengal schools. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar ordered the Trinamool Congress-led state government to initiate a fresh selection process, which must be completed within three months.
"In our opinion, this is the case where the entire selection process is vitiated and tainted beyond resolution. Manipulations and frauds on a large scale, coupled with attempts to cover up, have dented the selection process beyond repair.
"The credibility and legitimacy of selection are diluted, and accordingly, we have to keep it (order of the high court) with some modifications," the CJI said while pronouncing the verdict on as many as 127 petitions pertaining to the Calcutta High Court verdict.
The CJI also ruled that employees whose appointments have been annulled won't have to return their salaries and other benefits earned so far. However, the court made an exception for certain disabled employees, allowing them to keep their jobs on humanitarian grounds.
The bench fixed pleas, including the one filed by the West Bengal government challenging the high court direction for a CBI probe, for hearing on April 4.
The detailed judgement is awaited.
On February 10, the top court reserved its judgement on a batch of petitions in the matter and said that those who got jobs wrongly may be knocked out.
The top court commenced the final hearing on December 19 last year and heard the parties on January 15, 27 and February 10 before reserving its verdict on the politically sensitive case.
Citing irregularities such as OMR sheet tampering and rank-jumping, the high court had invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff in state-run and state-aided schools in West Bengal.
On May 7 last year, the apex court stayed the high court's order over the appointments made by the state's School Service Commission (SSC).
The Supreme Court has allowed the CBI to continue investigating the West Bengal teacher recruitment scam, which involved alleged irregularities in the 2016 recruitment process conducted by the West Bengal SSC. This recruitment process saw 23 lakh candidates competing for 24,640 posts, with 25,753 appointment letters ultimately being issued.
The apex court termed the scam "systemic fraud".
The high court had previously instructed those who were appointed outside the official vacancies, recruited after the expiry date, or submitted blank OMR sheets to return their salaries and benefits with 12% interest.
Former West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and Trinamool Congress MLAs Manik Bhattacharya and Jiban Krishna Saha are among the accused being investigated in the recruitment scam.
(inputs from PTI)