On Friday, West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu in a statement said that the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) may publish a list of “tainted” and “ untainted” teachers and non-teaching staff who were appointed by the Commission in 2016 within two weeks. However, legal experts told The Indian Express that such a statement could lead to contempt of court.
Recently, the Supreme Court had cancelled the recruitment of over 25,000 school staff in 2016 by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), calling the process “tainted” while upholding a Calcutta High Court judgment. Following this, teaching and non-teaching staff hit the streets in protest, demanding that the “tainted” candidates be identified separately and removed.
Counsel at the Calcutta High Court Bikram Banerjee said, “The state government cannot publish any list. It is a complete farce. The Supreme Court has already passed an order and as per that order, the entire panel stays void… The state government wants to cover up who is tainted and who is non-tainted, thus the panel has been quashed by the SC. The state government is saying all this to play with public sentiments. The judgment of the Supreme Court is in force.”
According to Banerjee, if the state had any “intention”, they could have given the list to the High Court or the Supreme Court, but that was not done. He said, “Asking the teachers to go to work is absolutely a contemptuous act… The teachers cannot get salaries as the judgement is in force. The sad part is that even if they are opening the salary portal, why open it for tainted candidates?”
Senior counsel and MP Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya told The Indian Express, “I do not know what legal advice is necessary. The Calcutta High Court had quashed their appeal and said upload all OMRs, the Supreme Court said the persons had been caught red-handed and they have to return their salaries… so I do not know why they are making all these statements. Asking the teachers to return to work is a violation of the Supreme Court judgment, they will be in contempt.”
Bhattacharya further said that the “fact that the names of the (removed) staff have been uploaded in the salary portal is in contempt of court. “I will approach the High Court’s single Bench in this matter as the Supreme Court has affirmed the High Court’s order,” he said.
Counsel Firdoz Shamim said, “I have already sent a letter on April 9 with the Calcutta High Court’s and Supreme Court’s judgments to four state officers, saying that if the orders are not followed, then contempt proceedings will be initiated. The letters have been sent to the Secretary of the Education department, Commissioner of School Education, Chairman of the SSC and President of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education.”
“We do not know exactly what has happened in the meeting (on Friday, by the state education minister with some of the teaching and non-teaching staff) and the outcome. The Board has filed a review petition and the SSC will also file a review petition, so we do not want to make any comment without knowing the outcome of the meeting,” said additional government pleader Biswabrata Basu Mallick to The Indian Express.