SC quashes ‘tainted’ selection of 25,752 Bengal school staff ‘Fraud, Cover-Up Dented Process Beyond Repair’

SC quashes ‘tainted’ selection of 25,752 Bengal school staff ‘Fraud, Cover-Up Dented Process Beyond Repair’ 

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesofindia.com 04.04.2025

New Delhi : In a big blow to the West Bengal govt, Supreme Court on Thursday concurred with Calcutta high court’s decision to cancel the 2016 recruitment of more than 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff for the state’s govt schools, saying the selection process was corrupted beyond repair. Dismissing appeals of the Mamata Banerjee govt, West Bengal School Services Commission (WBSSC) and 125 petitions by successful candidates, abench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar said, “The entire selection process has been vitiated and tainted beyond resolution.” Writing the 41-page judgment that rejected fervent pleas for segregation of tainted and untainted candidates instead of cancelling the entire recruitment process, CJI Khanna said, “Manipulations and frauds on a large scale, coupled with the attempted cover-up, have dented the selection process … The credibility and legitimacy of the selection are denuded.” 

Referring to the destruction of candidates’ OMR (answer) sheets purportedly for illegal rank jumping, appointment of those who didn’t qualify and even those who submitted blank answer papers, the bench said HC had on April 22 last year rightly decided to order cancellation of the entire recruitment. SC said the tainted candidates, who were appointed as teachers or to non-teaching staff posts, “should be required to refund any salaries/payments received. Since their appointments were the result of fraud, this amounts to cheating”. uHearing on April 8, P 14 SC to hear petition by Bengal govt on April 8 However, SC said even though non-tainted candidates would lose jobs because the entire selection process stands cancelled, they won’t be asked to refund salaries and other reimbursements they received. “No candidate can be appointed (from the select list for 2016 recruitment) once the entire examination process and results have been declared void,” the bench said. 

In another important clarification, SC said some of the selected candidates, who do not fall in the tainted category and may have worked in govt departments prior to their selection to the teaching and non-teaching jobs, “will have  the right to apply to their previous departments or autonomous bodies to continue in their service with those entities”. Their application for being restored to their previous jobs would be processed in three months and they allowed to resume their positions, the court said, adding, “The period between termination of their previous appointment and their rejoining will not be considered a break in employment.”

The bench said it will on April 8 hear the petition filed by state govt challenging HC direction for a CBI probe against officials and ministers who decided to create supernumerary posts for teachers and non-teaching staff, and appoint more people than those who had made it to the list of selected candidates. Full report on www.toi.in