The Supreme Court Today (Feb 10) reserved its verdict on petitions challenging the Calcutta High Court’s decision to cancel 25,753 teacher and staff appointments in West Bengal. The High Court had declared these jobs illegal, citing serious irregularities in the 2016 recruitment process, including tampering with OMR sheets and rank manipulation. A bench led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna heard arguments from top lawyers, with the West Bengal government strongly opposing the cancellation. The Supreme Court had earlier termed this a “systematic fraud”, and its final ruling will now decide the fate of thousands of employees.
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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday reserved its judgement on petitions against the Calcutta High Court‘s April 22, 2024 decision invalidating the appointment of 25,753 teachers and other staff in state-run and state-aided schools of West Bengal.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar said,
“Arguments have been heard. The judgment is reserved.”
The Supreme Court examined 124 petitions in this case, and among them, one was filed by the West Bengal government itself.
A large team of senior lawyers represented different parties in court. Some of the well-known lawyers who argued in this case were Mukul Rohatgi, Ranjit Kumar, Abhishek Singhvi, Dushyant Dave, P. S. Patwalia, Rakesh Dwivedi, Maninder Singh, Shyam Divan, Prashant Bhushan, Meenakshi Arora, and Karuna Nundy.
On behalf of the West Bengal government, senior lawyer Rakesh Dwivedi opposed the High Court’s decision and presented arguments. The Supreme Court had started the final hearing on this major case on December 19, 2023. After listening to arguments on multiple dates—January 15, January 27, and February 10—the court finally reserved its judgment.
“Last but most important is this my lord. It is a little unpleasant but kindly permit me to submit… Justice Gangopadhyay ordered CBI enquiry without any basis, without any prayer. My lordships have seen on record Justice Gangopadhyay’s interview. Learned judge gave an interview while hearing the matter. Then he joined politics. The entire enquiry is tainted,”
-Dave argued.
“We have heard you on this point. We are going by the evidence. Mr. Dave, that’s all,”
-the Bench said.
But Dave continued saying,
“I don’t think your lordships will hear this because it is unpalatable to the judiciary.”
This, the bench said, was an unacceptable remark.
“This is an unacceptable remark. The proceedings have gone on absolutely dispassionately. We are not going into any political issue and we will not allow it. Mr. Dave, you are also an experienced lawyer. You know that the law in India is settled in Pooran Mal’s case that even evidence collected illegally is admissible as evidence. That’s all, Mr. Dave”,
-CJI Khanna said.
The Calcutta High Court had pointed out serious problems in the hiring process. It found that OMR sheets were tampered with, and candidates who were ranked lower were given jobs by illegally changing their ranks. Because of these irregularities, the High Court canceled all these appointments.
On May 7 last year, the Supreme Court had put a temporary stay on the High Court’s decision regarding the appointments made by the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC). However, while granting this stay, the Supreme Court allowed the CBI to continue its investigation into the matter.
This entire case is linked to the 2016 recruitment process carried out by the West Bengal School Service Commission. At that time, around 2.3 million (23 lakh) candidates had applied for jobs, while there were only 24,640 positions available. However, surprisingly, 25,753 appointment letters were issued, raising serious questions about the fairness of the process.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had called this recruitment scam a “systematic fraud” and had stated that it was the duty of the state authorities to preserve the digitized records related to these appointments.
CASE TITLE:
State of West Bengal v. Baishakhi Bhattacharyya Chatterjee & Ors.
Click Here to Read Previous Reports on CJI Sanjeev Khanna
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