In the wake of the recent alleged rape at Kolkata’s Law College, in which the main accused is a former Trinamool Congress (TMC) student leader and a casual staffer, the West Bengal government has moved to implement a law — passed in 2022 — to centralise the recruitment of Group C and D staff in government-aided colleges through the West Bengal College Service Commission.
Currently, such recruitments are carried out directly by individual college authorities.
The Higher Education department had passed a bill in the Assembly in 2022 mandating that all Group C and D staff in government-aided colleges be recruited through the Commission. Despite the bill’s passage, rules required for its implementation had not been framed until now.
A senior official in the Higher Education department said, “We have already framed the rules and sent them to the Finance and Law departments. We can only implement them after their approval. It was delayed for these years, but now we are expecting it will be implemented very soon.”
Monojit Misra, the main accused in the rape case, is a member of the ruling TMC’s student wing and a former president of the college unit. Misra, 31, along with Zaib Ahmed (19) and Pramit Mukherjee (20)—both also members of the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP)—has been arrested. After graduating, Misra was reportedly appointed as a casual staffer at the same college through the approval of the college governing body, allegedly without proper qualifications.
The incident has sparked wider allegations that several TMC-affiliated individuals have secured jobs in various colleges without meeting eligibility criteria. A senior TMC leader said, “After the rape case, our leadership decided to avoid such controversy on recruitment. If all recruitment will be conducted through the College Service Commission, transparency will be maintained.”
He added, “During the Left Front rule, such questions were raised in Group C and D recruitment in schools. After that, it was decided to recruit Group C and D staff through the Commission.”
As per current norms, the Higher Education department determines how many non-teaching staff can be recruited, their pay scales, and eligibility criteria. An official said, “It is seen that, even after these norms are there, many colleges recruited casual non-teaching staff like Misra. To stop such malpractices, recruitment through the College Service Commission will be established.”