SC upholds Calcutta HC’s cancellation of 24,000 school appointments in West Bengal

New Delhi, Apr 3: In a setback for the West Bengal government, the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the Calcutta High Court’s decision to cancel 24,000 teaching and non-teaching appointments made by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) in 2016. The apex court ruled that the recruitment process was tainted by manipulation and fraud, as reported by Bar and Bench. A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Justice PV Sanjiv Kumar declined to interfere with the High Court’s verdict, emphasising that the entire selection process had been compromised.

“We have gone through the facts. Regarding findings of this case, the entire selection process is vitiated by manipulation and fraud and credibility and legitimacy is denuded. No reason to interfere. Tainted candidates must be terminated and appointments were resultant of cheating and thus fraud,” the Supreme Court stated in its judgment. However, the Bench provided relief to those already appointed, ruling that they would not be required to return the salaries received so far.

It further directed that a fresh selection process be conducted within three months, allowing for certain relaxations for candidates found to be untainted by the scandal.

The school jobs-for-cash scam, one of the most infamous recruitment scandals in West Bengal, involves allegations of widespread corruption in hiring processes for both primary and secondary school positions. In 2016, over 23 lakh candidates had appeared for the recruitment examinations to fill 24,000 vacancies. However, it was later revealed in proceedings before the Calcutta High Court that many candidates had secured jobs due to fraudulent evaluation of Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets.

In April 2024, the Calcutta High Court had invalidated these appointments, citing the lack of clarity on how the 23 lakh answer sheets were assessed. It ordered a re-evaluation of all answer sheets and had initially directed the 24,000 appointees to return their salaries. The High Court also instructed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to continue its probe into the recruitment scam.

A total of 126 appeals were filed before the Supreme Court challenging the High Court’s ruling, including one by the West Bengal government. The state government contended that the High Court had arbitrarily canceled the appointments based on oral submissions, without any affidavit on record. It argued that the decision disregarded the potential vacuum in schools resulting from the mass terminations.

The scandal has led to the arrest of several high-profile figures, including former education minister Partha Chatterjee and Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislators Manik Bhattacharya and Jiban Krishna Saha. Other key accused include suspended TMC leaders Santanu Kundu and Kuntal Ghosh, who are also under investigation.