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Synopsis

The West Bengal government has filed a plea in the Supreme Court questioning correctness of the Calcutta High Court's April 22, 2024 judgement quashing appointment of 23,123 teaching and non-teaching staff in the state made through the State Level Selection Test-2016 (SLST).

It has also challenged the direction to the candidates who submitted blank OMR sheets but obtained appointments, to return all remunerations and benefits received by them to the State exchequer along with interest calculated at 12 % per annum, from the date of receipt thereof till deposit, within a period of four weeks.

"The High Court, on the basis of oral submissions, without any affidavit on record, has proceeded to in a cursory manner, issue direction to cancel all appointments of teachers and non-teaching staff, in utter disregard to the fact that the same will lead to a huge vacuum in the state schools, unless new selection process is completed by the SSC, especially when the new academic sessions is on its brim, leading to the students being adversely impacted," the plea said.

It said there was no occasion for the High Court to set aside/cancel the entire recruitment, when the allegedly wrongful and illegal appointments identified by the SSC based on the CBI report, could have as per law been set aside, after hearing the aggrieved parties. 

"However, the court has instead of separating the grains from the chaff, has proceeded to paint the entire selection process with the same colour of irregularity, leaving the state government as the sole authority responsible to maintain the Teacher-Pupil ratio in schools in a precarious position," it said.

It said the HC even did not give sufficient time to the petitioner State to deal with such an exigency, rendering the education system at a stand-still.

"Even though as per the CBI enquiry report and the affidavit by the SSC irregularity in appointments were only found for 4,327 teachers and non teaching staff, the impugned order on its own wisdom strikes at the legal and valid selections of 23,123 teachers, which was not found to be riddled with any anomaly as per the chargesheet filed by CBI concluding the investigation," it said.

The High Court further mechanically directed that the SSC shall undertake a fresh selection process in respect of the declared vacancies involved in these selection processes preferably within a fortnight from the date of declaration of results of the ensuing elections, without considering that, till the process is completed by the SSC and actual appointments are made pursuant thereto, the schools will be seriously understaffed which will severely affect the students in such schools, it said.

The petitioner also sought an interim stay on the operation of the HC's judgment in the matter.

In what is called as cash-for-job scam, the CBI has arrested former state education minister Partha Chatterjee and other bigwigs and recovered huge caches of cash during the investigation.

In its judgment, the HC's bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md Shabbar Rashidi had “The entire selection process is shrouded in such mystery and in such layers that it is difficult to fathom the quantum of illegalities performed.” As a consequence, the court held that “we are left with the only option of cancelling all appointments in the four categories of the selection process involved.”

The court's decision to nullify the SLST-2016 selection process was motivated by a multitude of discrepancies uncovered during the proceedings. These irregularities ranged from procedural violations to instances of nepotism and favouritism, casting doubt on the legitimacy of the appointments made through the said process.

Cast Title: The State of West Bengal Vs Baishakhi Bhattacharyya