Today, On 3rd April, The Supreme Court has upheld the Calcutta High Court’s decision to cancel the appointments of 24,000 school staff in West Bengal over alleged irregularities. The court stated, “Entire selection process is vitiated by manipulation and fraud, and credibility and legitimacy is denuded.” The ruling reinforces the need for transparency in recruitment and mandates a fresh selection process. This verdict has significant implications for affected candidates and the state’s education system.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the Calcutta High Court’s order to cancel 24,000 appointments of teaching and non-teaching staff made by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) in 2016, related to the school jobs for cash scam.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Justice PV Sanjiv Kumar decided not to interfere with the High Court’s ruling, noting that the appointments were compromised by manipulation and fraud.
The court noted that “those who obtained jobs wrongly could be knocked out.”
The Court stated in its judgment,
“We have gone through the facts. Regarding findings of this case, the entire selection process is vitiated by manipulation and fraud and credibility and legitimacy is denuded. No reason to interfere. Tainted candidates must be terminated and appointments were resultant of cheating and thus fraud,”
The Bench also clarified that those already appointed would not be required to return any salary received thus far.
Additionally, the Court mandated that a new selection process be completed within three months.
The Court added while affirming the High Court’s order,
“The fresh selection process can also have relaxations for untainted candidates,”
“Entire selection process is vitiated by manipulation and fraud and credibility and legitimacy is denuded.”
The final hearing began on December 19 of the previous year, with discussions taking place on January 15, 27, and February 10 before the verdict was reserved in this politically sensitive matter.
The high court had cited various irregularities, including OMR sheet tampering and rank-jumping, as reasons for invalidating the appointments of the 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff.
On May 7 of last year, the Supreme Court stayed the high court’s order concerning the appointments made by the state’s school service commission (SSC), while allowing the CBI to continue its investigation.
This case arose from alleged irregularities during the 2016 recruitment process conducted by the West Bengal SSC, which saw 23 lakh candidates compete for 24,640 posts, leading to 25,753 appointment letters being issued.
Several candidates who were denied selection challenged the process, alleging corruption, manipulation of merit lists, and favoritism in the hiring process. Complaints surfaced about the illegal appointment of ineligible candidates, with claims that recruitment rules had been violated.
The matter was taken to the Calcutta High Court, which conducted an inquiry into the allegations.
The high court ordered those appointed beyond the officially stated 24,640 vacancies, as well as those appointed after the official recruitment deadline and those who submitted blank OMR sheets, to return all salaries and benefits received, with an interest of 12 percent.
The State’s appeal to the Supreme Court argued that the High Court arbitrarily canceled the appointments based solely on oral submissions and without any affidavits on record. It was contended that the High Court’s decision showed “utter disregard” for the potential impact, which could create a significant vacuum in the schools.
Several individuals, including former education minister Partha Chatterjee and Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLAs Manik Bhattacharya and Jiban Krishna Saha, are currently in custody for their alleged roles in the scam, alongside suspended TMC leaders such as Santanu Kundu and Kuntal Ghosh.
Case Title: THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL vs. BAISHAKHI BHATTACHARYYA (CHATTERJEE) SLP(C) No. 009586 – / 2024
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