Bengal SSC scam: Calcutta High Court cancels illegal recruitment of over 23,000 teachers and non-teaching staff in schools

A division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Monday canceled the illegal recruitment of 23,753 teachers and non-teaching staff by the 2016 School Service Commission (SSC) and ordered them to refund their salaries with interest. The court also ordered fresh recruitment for the posts within 15 days.

The bench headed by Justice Debangsu Basak noted that the OMR sheets of Group C, Group D, Class IX and X were manipulated in 2016, making all recruitments illegal. It added that the names of those recruited were illegally included in the panel. “We have no choice but to cancel the entire recruitment panel,” Judge Basak said.

Terming the order “unfortunate”, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Kunal Ghosh said, “The state government wanted to accommodate those who were not recruited illegally. The government will explore legal options, but this order is unfortunate.”

West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, meanwhile, criticized the TMC for the scam. “It has now been proven that the TMC government has recruited teachers for money. They turned teachers into commodities and sold them in the market.”

In 2021, the Calcutta High Court ordered the Justice Bag Committee to review the recruitments in the Group C and Group D categories. After preliminary investigation, the committee found that the OMR sheets had been manipulated, following which the court ordered investigation by the CBI and ED.

Festive offer

In August 2022, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and his close aide Arpita Mukherjee in the case. Several SSC officials, including TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya, were also arrested.

First uploaded on: 04-22-2024 12:21 IST

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