In a massive loss of face to the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal, the Supreme Court has upheld the Calcutta High Court order, cancelling the appointment of more than 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff under the West Bengal School Service Commission. The Supreme Court said the entire selection process is “vitiated by manipulation and fraud” and its credibility and legitimacy “denuded”.
The bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar said that it saw no reason to interfere with the High Court order. The court said the appointments resulted from cheating and are thus fraudulent.
The court asked the state government to complete a fresh selection process within three months. Those who clear this fresh process would not be required to return the salary they drew since their appointment in 2016. But the ones who don’t must pay back. The court has given relaxation to persons with disabilities and said they may continue in their present posting.
The Mamata Banerjee government had challenged the high court order in the Supreme Court, and pressed for a segregation of tainted and untainted candidates.
At the centre of the row are supernumerary posts created by the state government. More than 23 lakh candidates had appeared for the state-level selection test in 2016. The number of vacant posts was 24,640, but 25,753 appointment letters were issued. It is alleged that these supernumeric posts provided room for illegal recruitment.
Irregularities in the teachers’ recruitment had opened a can of worms for the Trinamool Congress government. Several of its top leaders, including former education minister and a trusted lieutenant of Mamata Banerjee, are in jail in connection with the case.
Senior BJP leader Amit Malviya described the Supreme Court verdict as a “crushing defeat” for Mamata Banerjee. “Mamata Banerjee’s close aide, Partha Chatterjee-who served as the Education Minister and was caught with wads of cash-is already in jail for his role in the scam. The Chief Minister, under whose watch this massive fraud ruined the careers of thousands of youths, must also be held accountable and face trial,” he said.