West Bengal Teacher Recruitment Scam: Calcutta High Court Declares Panel of 2016 Appointments 'Null,' Orders Fresh Recruitment

In a big blow to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government, the Calcutta High Court, on April 21, cancelled all appointments of teaching, non-teaching staff through 2016 state-level test in the West Bengal government-sponsored and aided secondary and higher secondary schools. With this, over 24,000 jobs have been dismissed by the court. During the hearing, a division bench comprising Justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi said that school teachers who were recruited illegally (blank OMR sheet) will need to give back their salaries within four weeks. The district magistrate has been tasked with collecting the money from these teachers.

The cancelled recruitment panel includes all appointments of teaching and non-teaching staff, hired through an WBSC entrance examination in 2016, to various state-government-sponsored and aided schools in Bengal.The bench also ordered the re-evaluation of as many as 23 lakh OMR sheets (test paper) of the recruitment entrance exam that had been conducted.

It rejected a request by some appellants for a stay on the order. The bench also directed the CBI to undertake further investigation into the matter with respect to the appointment process, and submit a report in three months. The WBSSC has been asked to initiate a fresh appointment process.More than 23 lakh candidates appeared for the 2016 State Level Selection Test (SLST) conducted by the WBSSC for over 24,000 vacant posts. These appointments pertained to teachers of classes IX, X, XI, XII, and group-C and D staffers through the State Level Selection Test-2016 (SLST).