SSC Scam: Now, Calcutta High Court Cancels Job of a Maths Teacher

Kolkata: In West Bengal, legal complications in corruption cases in school service recruitment have not been resolved. The School Service Commission (SSC) has again pushed for a new bench of the Calcutta High Court. This time, a new bench of the High Court has been directed to cancel the job of a mathematics teacher.

There were allegations of corruption in the appointment of ninth-tenth class teachers of the SSC. A bench headed by Justice Rajshekhar Mantha in the High Court on Monday heard the case of illegal recruitment of teachers in the ninth and tenth classes of the SSC. At that hearing, the court cancelled the job of another teacher. Based on the evidence, Judge Mantha directed the Board of Secondary Education to cancel the job of Siddique Gazi, a mathematics teacher.

According to Justice Rajshekhar Mantha's observation, Anup Gupta, who had filed a case against Siddiqui, did not get the job even though his name was at number 200 on the merit list. But Siddique Gazi's name is number 285 on the list, and he got the job. Following the incident, Justice Mantha directed the Board of Secondary Education to cancel the job of this mathematics teacher.

However, the High Court has not yet clarified how long it will take for the directive to be implemented. The case is set to be heard again on Wednesday, June 8. According to sources, SSC has already been asked for all the documents related to the appointment for the next hearing. It is learned that the next hearing will be held after examining them thoroughly.

Earlier, all the cases related to corruption in the appointment of the SSC were being heard on the bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay. But now, the case has been shifted to the bench of Justice Rajshekhar Mantha. The High Court said in a statement on Friday that all the cases of upper primary are being moved from the bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay. The High Court said, from now on, Justice Mantha will hear the SSC case. Justice Gangopadhyay will hear cases related to primary and madrasa education. No new cases related to higher education will go to his bench.

Earlier, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had directed to cancel the job of Ankita Adhikari, daughter of State Minister for Education Paresh Adhikari. She was fired for corruption in recruitment. Ankita was working as a political science teacher at Indira Girls High School in Mekhliganj. The court ordered her to cancel her job as well as pay back all the salary she had drawn.

On the other hand, on Monday, the CPI(M) leadership met the agitators on the dharna platform of SSC recruitment candidates. SSC job seekers have been protesting for more than 450 days under the Gandhi statue in Kolkata, demanding appointments on the basis of a merit list. The CPI(M) leadership went to the Dharna Manch and spoke to the protesters. They have demanded severe punishment for those who are committing corruption.