What is Mamata Banerjee's next step? 25,757 to lose school jobs as HC scraps 2016 appointment process
Times of India | 23 April 2024
Kolkata: Calcutta HC invalidated on Monday all but one of 25,758 appointments made by Bengal's School Service Commission (SSC) in 2016 and ordered around 1,600 of these recruits to return within four weeks the salaries and allowances they had been paid so far with 12% interest.
The division bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi made a lone exception for cancer patient Soma Das, who got her job "on humanitarian grounds".
Stating it was difficult under the circumstances to "sift the grain from the chaff", HC said the "exact number" of people benefiting from "manipulations and illegalities" in the selection process couldn't be identified. "We are left with the option of cancelling all appointments," it said, directing CBI to continue with its probe into the 'cash-for-jobs' case and quiz people in custody, if necessary.
'One-sided': Didi slams HC's school hiring order
Calcutta HC's verdict invalidating over 25,000 appointments by state School Service Commission (SSC) is "illegal and one-sided", Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said on Monday, adding that her govt will move SC against it.
Alleging that the verdict was passed "not in a mandir, masjid, gurdwara or church, but in BJP's bicharalaya (court)", she said, "There are selective verdicts these days. If BJP files a PIL, they get bail; if others file a PIL, it is jail."
Without naming Abhijit Gangopadhyay, BJP candidate for Tamluk Lok Sabha seat, she said at a rally in North Dinajpur's Raiganj that HC order in SSC appointments case is similar to the one that a former judge had passed, only for SC to set it aside.
Invoking Tagore, "Bicharer bani nirobe nibhrite kande (Justice weeps silently in isolation)", Mamata said, "Central govt has chosen its people. BJP has decided their postings... I want to comment on the judgment. That is my constitutional right..." CM expressed shock at those who lost their jobs being asked to return salaries they earned in fourweeks. "How will they return their salaries? Will they steal or rob?" "We are trying to provide jobs but others are citing legalities and stopping this process. We have lined up 10 lakh jobs."
Start in fortnight process to fill up vacancies: HC
HC also directed SSC to start a fresh recruitment process against vacancies within a fortnight.
In cancelling the entire selection process, the bench reserved the strictest penalties for appointees identified as having submitted blank OMR sheets in the recruitment test, and those given jobs outside the purview of the selection panel or after its term ended.
Teachers of Classes IX to XII and candidates recruited to posts in groups C (clerical) and D are among those whose appointments stand cancelled, according to the order.
SSC will move SC against the order. “We are not satisfied with the order. It is very harsh,” its chairperson Siddhartha Majumder said. In its affidavit, SSC reported 1,539 ‘excess’ appointments to teaching posts for Classes IX and X by the MadhyamikBoard, besides 416 to Group C posts and 669 in Group D. Another 199 teachers were appointed in excess of sanctioned posts, it said.
“Board has no authority to issue appointment letters unless recommended by SSC,” the bench said. It directed CBI to interrogate state officials involved in the cabinet decision to create supernumerary posts. “The principal secretary produced a cabinet note and memo on creation of supernumerary posts. So, the state resolved to spend taxpayers’ money to accord sanction to an employment secured dishonestly,” it noted.
The order mentions the chief secretary’s ‘obdurate attitude’ in granting sanction to CBI’s request to start proceedings against officials named in the chargesheet. Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam assigned the case to the division bench in accordance with a Nov 2023 directive from SC.