Calcutta High Court Cancels 2016 West Bengal School Recruitment, Affecting 25,753 Teachers
The Calcutta High Court has canceled the 2016 recruitment process for government-sponsored and aided schools in West Bengal, affecting 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff. These individuals were appointed through a state-level selection test and have been asked by the court to return their salaries along with 12% interest.
The court declared the selection process “null and void” and directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the appointment process and submit a report within three months. The selection process was intended to fill vacancies for assistant teachers for Classes 9-10 and 11-12, Group C (clerks), and Group D posts.
Candidates for teaching posts took the teacher eligibility test (TET), and those who qualified were called for an interview and personality test. A state-level selection test (SLST) panel was prepared, and selection was based on weightage given to TET score, academic marks, interview, and personality test.
The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) issued appointment letters based on the recommendations of the School Service Commission (SSC), which were made strictly on the basis of the SLST merit list.
However, controversy arose when SSC uploaded the names and application IDs of successful candidates instead of mentioning SLST scores. Some TET candidates then moved Calcutta HC complaining that several candidates whose names were not in the SLST panel got appointment letters.
HC appointed an inquiry committee to look into the complaints, which held that a five-member panel set up by former education minister Partha Chatterjee to oversee school appointments was “not valid under the law.” The committee named three state officials who allegedly manipulated the rankings of candidates and issued appointment letters even after the expiry of the panel on May 4, 2019.
The CBI’s subsequent investigation revealed that members of the five-person panel identified teaching vacancies in an “unauthorised manner” and issued “fictitious” recommendations by scanning signatures of chairpersons of regional service commissions under SSC. It also pointed to manipulation of optical marks recognition (OMR) answer scripts of candidates, where even those scoring 0 or 1 were given qualifying marks of 51 in the SLST panel. The original OMR sheets had been destroyed.
The court directed SSC to submit a report on the number of candidates who got out-of-turn appointments, those who got appointments beyond the SLST panel, and those who submitted blank OMR sheets but were appointed.
The state government attempted to appease genuine candidates by creating supernumerary posts, but HC struck down this measure.
The exact number of illegal appointees is yet to be determined, and HC has directed CBI to continue its investigation. The court has also given an opportunity to the candidates to inspect the OMR sheets. HC observed that non-cooperation from SSC and the state government made it difficult to “remove the grain from the chaff.”
