Supreme Court Permits 'Clean' Teachers in Bengal to Stay Until New Recruitment Finalizes
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Synopsis
The Supreme Court has permitted 'untainted' teachers in West Bengal to retain their roles until a new recruitment process is concluded, emphasizing the need to avoid student disruption amid ongoing job irregularities linked to the 2016 selection process.
Key Takeaways
- The Supreme Court allows 'untainted' teachers to remain in position.
- Fresh recruitment by the WBSSC must be completed by December 31.
- Group C and Group D employees are not included.
- The CBI is not allowed to investigate supernumerary posts.
- Students must not suffer due to this process.
New Delhi, April 17 (NationPress) The Supreme Court on Thursday granted permission for the 'untainted' assistant teachers in West Bengal, whose appointments were annulled due to extensive irregularities in the 2016 selection process, to retain their roles until the new recruitment is finalized.
Emphasizing the need to ensure that students are not disadvantaged, a bench led by CJI Sanjiv Khanna extended this relief exclusively to class 9-12 teachers whose names were not associated with any misconduct.
The CJI Khanna-headed bench instructed the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) to publish new advertisements by May 31 and to conclude the recruitment process by December 31 of this year.
The apex court clarified that its ruling will not apply to Group C and Group D employees and warned that any delay in the recruitment process may lead to the revocation of its order regarding the class 9-12 assistant teachers.
Recently, the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Calcutta High Court to cancel 25,753 appointments in teaching and non-teaching roles made by the WBSSC in 2016.
In a ruling passed in April of last year, the Calcutta High Court had invalidated the appointments and required candidates selected from the expired panels to return all salaries received during their tenures, along with an annualized interest of 12 percent. The supreme court, last week, set aside the directive from the Calcutta High Court, which had ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the establishment of supernumerary positions in state-operated schools. These teaching and non-teaching roles, which have been under scrutiny since the outset, are viewed as a means of facilitating the hiring of ineligible candidates through illegal channels. With the apex court's ruling, the investigative agency will not be able to scrutinize the legitimacy of the decision that approved the creation of supernumerary posts.
The Supreme Court made it clear that its order does not prevent the CBI from investigating other facets of the school job scandal in accordance with the Calcutta High Court ruling.
--IAN
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