The Calcutta High Court’s Division Bench overturned a previous single bench order that had invalidated the appointments of 32,000 primary school teachers in West Bengal. These teachers were originally recruited in 2016 based on the 2014 Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) panel by the West Bengal Board of Primary Education.
The Division Bench, which comprised Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Reetabrata Kumar Mitra, declined to support the initial order. Their reason attributed was that irregularities were not established in every appointment, and terminating the primary teachers’ employment after nine years would cause significant hardship to their families.
What is the cash-job scam?
The West Bengal SSC scam, commonly referred to as the school jobs-for-cash scandal, involves widespread irregularities in the recruitment of teachers and non-teaching staff by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) in 2016.
A single bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay terminated the appointments of 32,000 primary teachers on May 12, 2023, who were recruited in 2016 after the 2014 Teachers‘ Eligibility Test. A petition was filed, alleging that the primary education board had committed fraud in the selection process and did not follow the rules for recruitment of primary teachers in state government-run and aided primary schools. The petition also alleged that jobs were sold, which indicated that jobs were given via bribery in 2014.
In its order, the single bench had pointed towards the possibility of recruitment of a section of teachers without holding their mandatory aptitude test, which, the division bench maintained, the probe agency is yet to back up with concrete evidence. However, the court also stated that the current evidence does not constitute sufficient grounds to cancel the entire selection process.
What does CBI’s investigation say?
The CBI, which investigated the matter following a High Court directive, initially found 264 appointments where irregularities occurred due to an additional one mark being granted. Crucially, the court noted that the probe agency has not found any evidence proving that this extra mark was given under the influence of some external entity. In addition, the names of another 96 teachers came under the agency’s scanner, whose jobs were subsequently reinstated under a Supreme Court order.
(WIth PTI Inputs)