West Bengal teacher recruitment scam: High Court cancels over 25,000 jobs

New Delhi: In a major blow to the Trinamool Congress, the Calcutta High Court on Monday cancelled the entire 2016 recruitment panel for school teachers constituted by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSCC) in the case of jobs scam. The court also dismissed more than 25,000 jobs.

According to the hearing, a division bench comprising Justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi said that school teachers who were recruited illegally (blank OMR sheet) would need to give back their salaries within four weeks.

The district magistrate has been tasked with collecting the money from these teachers.

Over 23 lakh candidates had appeared for the SLST-2016 for 24,640 vacant posts.

A total of 25,753 appointment letters were issued against the vacancies, said Firdaus Shamim, a lawyer for some of the petitioners.

The bench also ordered the re-evaluation of as many as 23 lakh OMR sheets (test paper) of the recruitment entrance exam that had been conducted.

It rejected a request by some appellants for a stay on the order.

The bench also directed the CBI to undertake further investigation into the matter concerning the appointment process and submit a report in three months. The WBSSC has been asked to initiate a fresh appointment process.

Notably, more than 23 lakh candidates appeared for the 2016 State Level Selection Test (SLST) conducted by the WBSSC for over 24,000 vacant posts.

Hundreds of job aspirants, waiting outside the court premises for the verdict, rejoiced as soon as it was delivered.

The High Court had concluded the hearing in the case on March 20 and the division bench received the judgment. The CBI was probing the case on an earlier order by the court.

The federal agency had arrested former Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee in 2022 for his alleged links in the scam.