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On Tuesday, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the Calcutta High Court ordered personal presence of the School Service Commission Secretary in the matter pertaining to irregularities in the recruitment of posts of ‘Group-C’ and ‘Group-D’ staff.

"I direct the Secretary of the West Bengal Central Service Commission to be present personally with copies of all recommendation letters of the candidates in the bunch of papers handed over to the Commission by the learned advocate for the petitioners. The Secretary should come prepared to certify the copies of the recommendation letters as true copies thereof," the bench said.

According to Anandazar, the High Court was 'surprised' by the irregularities in the recruitment of and have also indicated a CBI probe if corruption is found in the appointment. "Enough is enough...How can such a commission work,” the Court remarked.

In 2016, the state recommended for the recruitment of about 13 thousand staff in fourth class.  The term of that panel ended in 2019. Allegedly, even after the expiration of the term of the panel, the commission has made a lot of irregular appointments. The present case has been filed in the High Court recommending the appointment of 25 of them.

The petitioner’s advocate alleged candidates have been recommended after expiry of the panel in different regions like Western Region, Northern Region, Southern Region and Eastern Region has been handed over by the learned advocate for the petitioners to this court alleging all of those

According to the report filed by the School Service Commission under Section 16 of the West Bengal School Service Commission Act, 1997 the Central Commission has control over the Regional Commissions and the Regional Commissions are subordinate to the Central Commission. The Court showed disbelief about the present condition and stated, “the Central Commission has lost all control or has no control over the particular Regional Commission.”

The Court has ordered the petitioner to file an affidavit containing the names of the 25 candidates along and the Secretary of the West Bengal Central Service Commission has been ordered to be present personally with copies of all recommendation letters of the candidates.

The matter is set to be heard on 17th November, 2021.

Sandeep Prasad & Ors. Vs. The State of W. B. & Ors.