July 07 (Siliguri Chronicle) – The Calcutta High Court on Monday directed the School Service Commission (SSC) to carry out fresh recruitment of teachers and non-teaching staff, making it clear that candidates found to be “tainted” or “undeserving” in the 2016 recruitment scam must be excluded.
Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya rejected the arguments presented by SSC’s lawyer, Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, and ruled that anyone linked to the scam from the 2016 panel will not be allowed to apply for the new recruitment process.
The Calcutta High Court clearly stated that individuals who used unfair means to secure jobs in government-run and government-aided schools will not be allowed to take part in the fresh recruitment process.
Earlier in April, the Supreme Court upheld a previous verdict by the Calcutta High Court that cancelled the appointments of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff in Bengal’s government schools. The top court described the entire 2016 recruitment process as “vitiated” or deeply flawed.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier announced that 44,203 vacancies in government-run and aided schools would be filled through the fresh recruitment process. The Supreme Court has directed that this entire process must be completed by December 31, 2025.
Following the SSC’s advertisement for new recruitment, several cases were filed with the Calcutta High Court, raising concerns about the participation of candidates linked to the earlier scam.
Representing the SSC, Kalyan Bandyopadhyay — who is also the Trinamool Congress MP from Serampore — argued that the Supreme Court had not specifically stated that candidates identified as tainted should be excluded from the new recruitment process.
Dismissing the entire panel from 2016 who had “qualified” in the 2016 state level selection test, the SC bench comprising then CJI Sanjeev Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar had said, “In our opinion, this case is where the entire selection process has been vitiated. Manipulation and fraud on a large scale, coupled with the intention to cover up have tainted the selection process beyond repair.”
In his order then CJI Khanna said, “The legibility and credibility of the selection procedure are denuded. We find no reason to interfere in the HC verdict, since the appointments are by fraud and we see no reason to interfere.”
About the tainted candidates, the apex court had said: “For candidates who have been specifically found to be tainted, their entire selection process has been rightly declared null and void due to egregious violations and illegalities which violate Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution. As such the appointment of these candidates is cancelled.”
Senior advocate Bikash Bhattacharya, who also serves as a CPM Rajya Sabha MP, along with advocate Anindya Mitra, representing the “deserving candidates,” argued that the Supreme Court had clearly stated tainted candidates should not be allowed to take part in the recruitment process.
“The SSC did not clarify who are qualified to appear for the exams, which was in violation of the SC’s order. If SSC wants to award those who bought their jobs they can do so,” Mitra said.
The former Chief Justice of India Sanjeev Khanna had clearly stated that the dismissed Group-C and Group-D staff cannot be allowed to continue in their present employment as “the number of established tainted candidates is substantially high in number.”
