KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court, in a major blow to the Mamata Banerjee government, cancelled the 2016 recruitment process for government-sponsored and aided schools.
The decision affects 25,753 employees who will lose their jobs and be required to repay their salaries with 12% interest, as per the court’s ruling.
A panel of judges, Justices Debangshu Basak, and Md Shabbar Rashidi, stated that school teachers who were hired through an improper process, which involved submitting blank OMR sheets, must repay their salaries within four weeks.
District Magistrates are responsible for recovering the money from these teachers.
The court has granted an exception in its ruling to allow Soma Das, who is receiving cancer treatment, to keep her job based on humanitarian grounds.
The panel, established following a Supreme Court order, has directed the CBI to investigate the appointment process more thoroughly and submit a report within three months,
Additionally, it has instructed the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) to initiate a new appointment process.
Siddharth Majumder, the chairman of WBSSC, has stated that they will appeal the high court’s decision to Supreme Court.
According to the lawyer representing some of the petitioners, more than 2.3 million candidates took the State Level Selection Test-2016 for 24,640 positions.
However, 25,753 appointment letters were issued for these vacancies. These positions included teachers for classes 9 through 12, as well as group-C and D staff.
Last year, the Calcutta High Court rejected the panels established by the WBSCC in 2016 and revoked the hiring of 36,000 untrained primary teachers. This number was later adjusted to 32,000.
Abhijit Ganguly, the judge who had ordered a CBI investigation in the case, resigned following several conflicts with the ruling Trinamool party. He is now a candidate for the BJP in the current Lok Sabha elections.A
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