Team Blitz India
IN a big setback to the Trinamool Congress Government, the Calcutta High Court, on April 21, cancelled over 25,000 appointments of teaching, non-teaching staff through 2016 state-level test in the West Bengal government-sponsored and aided secondary and higher secondary schools.
During the hearing, a Division Bench comprising Justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi said that school teachers who were recruited illegally will need to give back their salaries within four weeks. The district magistrate has been tasked with collecting the money from these teachers. “The CBI to conduct further probe in 2016 selection irregularities in West Bengal school jobs,” said the court.
The high court declared the entire School Service Commission recruitment panel of 2016, “null and void”. All appointments from 9th to 12th and groups C and D where irregularities were found have also been declared null and void.
The court has instructed the administration to take action on fresh appointments in the next 15 days. At a rally in Raiganj, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called the court order “illegal” and said, “Our government will stand for those who lost their jobs and we will appeal before a higher court.” However, the commission’s chairman Siddharth Majumder said it will appeal in the Supreme Court after going thought the HC order thoroughly.
Around 2.3 million candidates had appeared for the 2016 exam for 24,640 vacant posts in the state, according to reports. Firdaus Shamim, a lawyer for some of the petitioners, said that a total of 25,753 appointment letters were issued against the vacancies.
The alleged case came to light when ED arrested former education minister Partha Chatterjee and his close aide Arpita Mukherjee in July 2022. In its first charge sheet filed in September 2022, ED said it traced cash, jewellery and immovable property worth ₹103.10 crore linked to the duo.
