New Delhi, Apr 3 (UNI) The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the Calcutta High Court order quashing the appointments of 25,000 teachers and other staff in West Bengal.
A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar upheld the high court’s decision quashing the entire selection process.
In its verdict, the bench declared the entire process of recruitment of teachers and other staff in schools in West Bengal as “tainted” and “tainted beyond reform”.
The court said the entire selection process was vitiated by manipulation and fraud and cannot be rectified.
The court said that the sanctity and credibility of this process has been destroyed. In such a situation, there is no valid ground to interfere with the order of termination of services of tainted candidates.
“Since the appointments are made through fraud and forgery, we do not see any ground to interfere,” the bench said.
The apex court, however, modified some of the directives.
The apex court also said in its verdict that candidates who were earlier employed elsewhere will be allowed to come back to their previous posts. The court asked the state government to initiate a fresh process of selection within a period of three months.
A probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the directions of the High Court led to the arrest of the then West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and others and a huge amount of cash was also recovered.
The apex court had on May 07, 2024, stayed the Calcutta High Court order of April 22, 2024, quashing the appointment of over 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff in government and government-aided schools in West Bengal.
This decision of the apex court is being considered as a major setback for the Mamata Banerjee government of the state.
