Revised Salary Portal for West Bengal Government Schools Continues to List 25,753 Job Terminations

Key Takeaways

The payroll still lists 25,753 terminated jobs.
Local schools cannot modify the payroll data.
WBBSE has petitioned for recruitment modifications.
Confusion persists over salary payments.
Potential legal implications for continued salary disbursements.

Kolkata, April 10 (NationPress) The salary portal dedicated to teaching and non-teaching personnel in West Bengal Government schools still displays the names of 25,753 employees whose positions were eliminated following a recent ruling by a Division Bench of the Supreme Court.

The payroll data on the portal, which is refreshed between the 1st and 10th of each month, has not changed since last month.

A headmaster from a state-run institution in South 24 Parganas district clarified that local school authorities do not have any influence over the addition or removal of names from the portal.

“The responsibility of individual school management is limited to providing updates on the portal regarding any modifications to the Provident Fund or Income Tax status of any teaching or non-teaching staff associated with the school,” he stated.

“As of now, the individual school authorities have not received any communication from the West Bengal School Service Commission concerning the future of the staff members whose jobs were terminated following the apex court’s directive,” the headmaster confirmed, wishing to remain anonymous.

One potential reason for the static payroll list on the portal is that the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) recently petitioned the Supreme Court for alterations to the April 3 ruling issued by the court’s Division Bench.

The Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, upheld a prior decision by the Calcutta High Court’s Division Bench led by Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Shabbar Rashidi last year, which annulled a total of 25,753 appointments made by the WBSSC.

In its petition, the WBBSE requested that until the new recruitment process mandated by the court is finalized, those candidates deemed “genuine” should be permitted to continue working.

However, despite the payroll list remaining unchanged for now, there is uncertainty among the former employees on two fronts.

The first concern is whether their names still appearing on the portal will result in the crediting of their current month’s salary to their respective bank accounts at month’s end.

The second point of confusion is regarding the duration of any potential salary payments; if the West Bengal government continues to disburse salaries to these terminated employees, it could be seen as a breach of the apex court order, thereby constituting contempt of court.