In a major relief to 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff of West Bengal, the Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the order of the Calcutta High Court order invalidating their appointment made by the state’s School Service Commission (SSC) in the state-run and state-aided schools.
The top court, however, permitted the central probe agency, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), to continue with its investigation and said it may probe even the members of the state cabinet if needed.
While granting the relief on the pleas, including the one filed by the state government, a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra asked the CBI not to take any precipitative action like any arrest of any suspect during its ongoing investigation.
The top court, however, made it clear that the teachers and non-teaching staff of the state, whose appointments were cancelled by the high court, will have to refund the salaries and other emoluments if it reaches the conclusion that their recruitment was illegal.
“We are of the view that an expeditious disposal of the matter will be in the interest of justice. We accordingly direct that the proceedings be listed for hearing and final disposal on July 16, 2024.
“In the meantime, we are inclined to continue the ad-interim protection granted by this Court in the order dated November 9, 2023, subject to the express stipulation that any person found to have been appointed illegally and has continued as a consequence of the present order shall undertake to refund the entire amount of the salary which may be paid from the date of this order and the final judgement of this court,” the bench said in its order.
It said the issue which would merit closer analysis is whether the appointment which suffers from tainted can be segregated (with the genuine ones). If such is possible then it would be wrong to set aside the entirety of the process, the bench said.
Earlier in the day, it termed the alleged recruitment scam in West Bengal as “systemic fraud” and said the state authorities were duty-bound to maintain the digitised records pertaining to the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff.
It took note of the submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the order staying the high court judgement may hamper the ongoing CBI probe and clarified that the investigation by the central agency will continue without any coercive action against the government officials and others.
Over 23 lakh candidates had appeared for the State Level Selection Test (SLST)-2016 for 24,640 vacant posts. A total of 25,753 appointment letters were issued against 24,640 vacancies, Firdaus Shamim, a lawyer for some of the petitioners who had alleged irregularities in the selection process, had said.
The court also instructed those appointed outside the officially available 24,640 vacancies, appointed after the expiry of the official date of recruitment, and those who submitted blank Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets but obtained appointments to return all remunerations and benefits received by them with 12 per cent per annum interest, within four weeks.
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