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Calcutta HC cancels appointment of 25,753 school employees in recruitment case
A division bench also directed CBI to undertake further investigation in respect of the appointment process, and submit a report in 3 months
A Calcutta high court division bench on Monday cancelled the appointment of all 25,753 people empanelled in 2016 for various categories of jobs at secondary and higher secondary schools in West Bengal, said lawyers associated with cases in the alleged bribe-for-job case.
The alleged case is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Monday morning’s order was passed by the division bench of justice Debangsu Basak and justice Md Shabbar Rashidi.
“The court cancelled the entire panel of 2016. Those who lost jobs include secondary (class 9 and 10) and higher secondary (class 11 and 12) teachers as well as Group C and Group D staff,” lawyer Firdous Shamim, who is representing victims of the alleged case, told mediapersons outside the court.
“The court has ordered that a fresh recruitment process should start after the Lok Sabha polls are over,” he said.
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“The court also ordered that people who were recruited by the state government after expiry of the time frame of the 2016 panel will have to return the entire salary in four weeks,” Shamim added.
Monday’s court order ran into a few hundred pages, lawyers said. Its copy was not uploaded on the high court website till Monday afternoon.
The alleged case came to light when ED arrested former education minister Partha Chatterjee and his close aide Arpita Mukherjee in July 2022. In its first charge sheet filed in September 2022, ED said it traced cash, jewellery and immovable property worth ₹103.10 crore linked to the duo.
In May 2022, the then Calcutta high court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay ordered the CBI to probe the appointment of non-teaching staff (Group C and D) and teaching staff by the West Bengal School Service Commission and West Bengal Board of Secondary Education between 2014 and 2021. The appointees allegedly paid bribes in the range of ₹5-15 lakh to get jobs after failing the selection tests.
ED initiated a parallel probe.
The Bengal government challenged this order and moved the Supreme Court which directed the Calcutta high court to hear the case.
Gangopadhayay resigned from service on March 5 and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) two days later. He is contesting the Tamluk Lok Sabha seat in East Midnapore district.
“I knew from the very beginning that this corruption is deep rooted. Such scammers should ideally be hanged,” Gangopadhyay said after Monday’s judgement.
“The order has proved how Mamata Banerjee’s government sold jobs like commodities. Banerjee must resign immediately,” Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said.
TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said, “We never denied that some irregularities took place and a few people indulged in corruption. That is being probed. But cancelling all jobs cannot solve the issue.”
