Bengal: SC Cancels Appointment of 25,753 Teachers, Non-Teaching Staff; Mamata Miffed

Kolkata: Over 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff in West Bengal have been left without jobs after the Supreme Court’s verdict on Thursday cancelled their appointments due to massive “fraud and manipulations” in the recruitment process. The apex court gave its judgment on the State of West Bengal's challenge to the Calcutta High Court's ruling declaring the recruitment process of the State Level Selection Test-2016 (SLST) in state government-sponsored and aided schools as “null and void”.

Giving his observations on what is known as the SSC (School Service Commission) scam, the bench of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar observed, “Manipulations and frauds on a large scale coupled with attempts to cover up have tainted the selection process beyond repair…the credibility and legitimacy of the selection are denuded.”

The Bench stated, “We find no valid ground or reason to interfere with the directions of High Court that services of tainted candidates whose appointments must be terminated and they will be required to refund any salaries they had received since the appointments are a result of fraud which amounts to cheating. Therefore, we see no justification to alter this direction.”

The State of West Bengal had challenged the judgment passed by the Calcutta High Court which had declared the recruitment process of SLST-2016 as null and void and had ordered cancellation of all appointments made through it.

On April 29, 2024, the Supreme Court had granted interim relief that no precipitative steps shall be taken in pursuance of the directions contained in the impugned judgment and order of the High Court.

Over 23 lakh candidates had appeared for the SLST-2016 for 24,640 vacant posts. A total of 25,753 appointment letters were issued against the vacancies.

Reacting to the judgement, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said while she respected the judiciary she “cannot accept the judgement” , and blamed the Opposition Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Bharatiya Janata Party.

Commenting on the scam, CPI(M) West Bengal state Secretary Mohd Salim, said it was the incompetency of the state government to ascertain who has got the job in nefarious way and who is a bonafide candidate that had led to the Supreme Court giving this verdict. 

“It is true that there has been enormous corruption involved in the recruitment examinations in West Bengal,” he told reporters from Madurai in Tamil Nadu, where he is attending the CPI(M)’s party congress.

The SSC scam in West Bengal came into national limelight after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) unearthed Rs 21 crore 90 lakh in hard cash from Arpita Mukherjee’s residence, believed to be a close confidante of Partha Chatterjee, a trusted lieutenant of Chief Minister Banerjee and former state education minister. He is currently the state minister of commerce and industries and is under arrest, as is Mukherjee. The matter is being probed by ED as well as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).