School jobs scam: Cal HC orders WBBSE to cancel appointment of 1,911 'Group D' staff

Court directed the SSC to immediately initiate steps to fill up the posts.

PTI, Kolkata, Feb 10 2023 :  The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education to cancel jobs of 1,911 ‘Group D’ employees, who were given appointment in state government-sponsored and -aided schools illegally, following manipulation of recruitment examination results.

The court directed the School Service Commission (SSC) to immediately initiate steps to fill up the posts.

The order came after the court found these candidates had got the recommendation from SSC, owing to manipulation of OMR sheets for the recruitment examination in 2016.

Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay directed the WBBSE to cancel the appointment of these candidates, whose names had been wrongly recommended by the SSC.

He asked the SSC to recommend names of waitlisted candidates to the board to fill up the 1,911 posts in accordance with merit, within three weeks from Friday.

The court also directed Subires Bhattacharya, who was the chairman of the SSC at the time of publication of results of the 2016 examinations, to disclose the names of persons on whose directive those were manipulated.

The commission, in an affidavit submitted before the court, stated that the marks found from the hard disc of NYSA, an enterprise that conducts assessments and examinations, does not tally with the marks found in the server of the SSC.

After comparison of the scores, it was found that NYSA’s marks were lesser than those in the server in case of 2,823 candidates.

Of these, 1,911 candidates were given recommendations by the SSC to the WBBSE for jobs in ‘Group D’ posts in various schools of the state.

Justice Gangopadhyay held that they got the recommendation illegally as a result of corrupt practices.

Meanwhile, the SSC’s lawyer informed the court that the commission has uploaded on its website a notification cancelling recommendation of the 1,911 candidates.

Justice Gangopadhyay directed the WBBSE to start the process of fresh appointments for these posts.

Coming down heavily on Bhattacharya, the court said if he does not disclose the names of those behind the manipulation of marks, then he will be held as the prime person behind all such acts.

Justice Gangopadhyay directed that Bhattacharya, a former vice-chancellor of North Bengal University, will not be able to use his masters or doctorate degree till he is exonerated.

The court also ordered that the 1,911 ‘Group D’ staff working in various educational institutions will not be allowed to enter the schools from Friday, and will not be paid salary any further.

It said the salary they have received so far will have to be refunded in instalments equal to the number of months for which they drew salary.

Justice Gangopadhyay directed the CBI, which is investigating illegal appointments in teaching and non-teaching jobs in West Bengal government-sponsored and -aided schools, to question them and also go for their custodial interrogation if required, to find the source of the unlawful acts.

He asked the SSC and the WBBSE to file reports on March 10, the next date of hearing of the matter, regarding compliance of the order.

Soon after the court order cancelling jobs of the 1,911 employees, the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education said it has complied with it.

“We have already made the necessary announcements on our website. The process to fill up the vacancies with eligible candidates will begin shortly in coordination with SSC,” its president Ramanuj Ganguly said.