Will challenge HC order on Bengal teacher jobs: School Service Commission chief 

 

 

THE Calcutta High Court on Monday ordered cancellation of all appointments made through the recruitment process of State Level Selection Test-2016 (SLST) in West Bengal Government-sponsored and aided schools, declaring it as “null and void”. The court directed that a section of those recruits will have to return salaries drawn by them along with 12 per cent per annum interest. Over 23 lakh candidates had appeared for the SLST-2016 for 24,640 vacant posts. A division bench comprising justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi also directed the CBI to undertake further investigation in respect of the appointment process, and submit a report in three months. The bench also asked the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) to initiate a fresh appointment process. A total of 25,753 appointment letters were issued against 24,640 vacancies, said Firdaus Shamim, a lawyer for some of the petitioners who alleged irregularities in the selection process.

 

The court directed that the persons who had been appointed outside the panel after its expiry and also those who submitted blank OMR sheets but obtained appointments, must return all remunerations and benefits received by them to the State exchequer along with 12 per cent per annum interest from the date of receipt till deposit, within a period of four weeks from date. The division bench also rejected a prayer by some appellants, including the SSC, for a stay on the order. Stating that it has given anxious consideration to the passionate plea that persons who had obtained the appointments legally would be prejudiced if the entire selection process is cancelled, the bench said it hardly had any choice left. The bench, formed by the Chief Justice of the High Court on a direction of the Supreme Court, had heard 350 petitions and appeals relating to the selection of candidates for appointment by the SSC in the categories of teachers of classes 9, 10, 11 and 12 and group-C and D staffers through the SLST-2016. It concluded the hearing in the matters on March 20 and reserved the judgement. Holding that all appointments granted in the selection processes involved were violative of Articles 14 (equality before the law) and 16 (prohibiting discrimination in employment in any Government office) of the Constitution, the court declared those as “null and void and cancelled.” The bench, in its 282-page judgement, directed the CBI to undertake further investigation in respect of all the four cases it had registered and to interrogate all persons who had received appointments beyond the panel after its expiry, and after submitting blank OMR sheets.

 

The court said that if necessary, the CBI will hold custodial interrogation in respect of each of them. The bench directed that the CBI will hold further investigations with regard to the “persons involved, in the State Government approving creation of supernumerary posts to accommodate illegal appointments” and custodial interrogation will be done if required. The bench said that a CBI probe with regard to the creation of supernumerary posts is imperative to bring to light the nature and extent of the scam and persons involved. “It is shocking that, at the level of the Cabinet of the State Government, decision is taken to protect employment obtained fraudulently in a selection process conducted by SSC for State-funded schools, knowing fully well that, such appointments were obtained beyond the panel and after expiry of the panel, at the bare minimum,” the court said. Unless there is a deep connection between the persons perpetuating the fraud and the beneficiaries thereof with persons involved in the decision-making process, such action to create supernumerary posts to protect illegal appointments is inconceivable, the bench observed. The court directed the SSC to undertake a fresh selection process for the vacancies in these selection processes within a fortnight from the date of declaration of results of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Directing the SSC to follow the rules governing the selection processes in letter and spirit, the court ordered that appointments for preparation, evaluation and scanning of OMR sheets will be made by SSC through open tender process and after declaring the eligibility criteria and other terms and conditions of the contract. Maintaining that retaining appointees selected through “such a dubious process” would be contrary to public interest, the court said, “By dint of the tenure of service of such appointees, successive generations of students would be exposed to these elements which would be counterproductive to public and national interest.”

 

Finding illegalities in the selection process on 17 counts, the court noted that OMR sheets had been destroyed without the scanned mirror images being preserved in the server of SSC. The bench noted that appointments higher than the declared vacancies had been given in respect of all four categories and to persons who were not even in the panel. It was also found that appointments had been given to persons who submitted blank OMR sheets and that appointments had also been given to persons after expiry of the panel of candidates for selection through SLST-2016. The court said that persons placed lower in rank had been given appointment in preference to persons placed higher in rank in the merit list. The merit list containing the marks obtained by the respective candidates had never been published, the bench noted. “We would rather have persons of integrity appointed as teachers through an untainted selection process rather than expose students to elements securing appointments through an unscrupulous selection process… Retaining appointees selected through such a dubious process would be contrary to public interest,” the bench observed. The court, however, made an exception in the appointment of Soma Das, which was made by the single bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay on humanitarian grounds due to her medical condition, keeping her outside the purview of the directions.