GUWAHATI: The State of West Bengal has approached the Supreme Court with a Special Leave Petition (SLP) challenging the Calcutta High Court's order that invalidated nearly 24,000 teaching and non-teaching jobs filled through the 2016 School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment process.
The Calcutta High Court's ruling, delivered on April 22, annulled these jobs across government and aided schools in the state, following revelations of a cash-for-jobs recruitment scam. The State of West Bengal, in its petition, contends that the High Court erred by invalidating the entire 2016 SSC recruitment process, which affects approximately 23,000 teaching and non-teaching staff. The State argues that the High Court should have differentiated valid appointments from invalid ones, rather than canceling the whole process.
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The State also claims that the High Court relied solely on oral arguments without any supporting affidavits, leading to a flawed judgement. The petition asserts that the High Court's decision creates a vacuum in state schools that will be difficult to fill without a new recruitment process, potentially impacting students as a new academic session approaches.
Additionally, the State argues that the High Court ordered the SSC to conduct a new selection process for declared vacancies within two weeks of the upcoming election results, which the State believes does not account for the understaffing issue in schools.
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The Calcutta High Court found serious irregularities with the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets, leading to the cancellation of the entire panel of the 2016 SSC recruitment process. The High Court noted that many OMR sheets were blank, suggesting fraudulent activities, and directed a new recruitment process to be conducted.
Furthermore, the Court ordered those who were fraudulently appointed to return the salaries they had drawn. It also directed an investigation into those responsible for perpetrating the recruitment scam.
