New Delhi, Aug 20 The Supreme Court has dismissed a batch of review petitions challenging its April 3 judgement that had invalidated 25,753 teaching and non-teaching appointments made by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) in 2016.
A Bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Satish Chandra Sharma observed that the review pleas were an attempt to seek a “re-hearing of the entire matter on merits” despite the fact that “all relevant aspects have already been examined and considered comprehensively.”
The Justice Kumar-led Bench noted that its decision invalidating the entire selection process had been delivered “after hearing extensive and exhaustive arguments and upon considering all aspects, factual and legal.”
“The failure on the part of the West Bengal Central School Service Commission to retain the original physical OMR sheets or at least the mirror copies thereof was a significant factor which weighed with the High Court and with this Court,” it said.
Further, the apex court said that “the cover-up of lapses and illegalities” by the authorities hindered verification, inevitably leading to the conclusion that the entire selection process was compromised.
While acknowledging the impact on untainted candidates, the Justice Kumar-led Bench reiterated its stance that “invalidation of such untainted appointments would lead to heartburn and anguish, which the Court was fully conscious of, but protecting the purity of the selection process is paramount and necessarily has to be given the highest priority.”
“Last, but not least, the adverse remarks made against the authorities concerned, who were wholly and solely responsible for this entire imbroglio, adversely affecting the lives of thousands of candidates....were fully warranted and justified,” it added.
Dismissing the review petitions, the Supreme Court rejected the application seeking an open court hearing, saying: “The applications for listing the review petitions in open Court are, accordingly, rejected. The review petitions are dismissed.”
In its April 3 judgment, a bench of then Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Kumar had observed that the entire selection process was vitiated and tainted beyond resolution, ruling that "no candidate can be appointed once the entire examination process and results have been declared void."
In an April 17 order, the Supreme Court allowed “untainted” assistant teachers, whose names were not linked to any irregularity, to continue in service until fresh recruitment is completed. It directed the WBSSC to issue fresh advertisements by May 31 and complete the recruitment process by December 31 this year, cautioning that any delay in the fresh selection process would lead to vacating its order regarding Class 9-12 assistant teachers.
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