In a significant setback for the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal, the Supreme Court has upheld a Calcutta High Court decision to revoke the appointments of over 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff appointed through the West Bengal School Service Commission.
The Supreme Court determined that the selection process was compromised by manipulation and fraud, thus rendering its credibility and legitimacy ineffective.
The Supreme Court bench, consisting of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar, found no grounds to challenge the High Court's ruling.
The appointments, deemed fraudulent due to cheating, have been mandated for review.
The state government has been instructed to conduct a fresh selection process within three months. Those successful in this new process can retain their previously earned salaries, while those who do not qualify will have to return their salaries from their appointment in 2016. An exception was made for persons with disabilities, allowing them to remain in their current positions.
The Mamata Banerjee administration had appealed the High Court's decision in the Supreme Court, seeking to differentiate between honest and compromised candidates.
Central to the controversy are supernumerary posts established by the West Bengal government.
In 2016, more than 23 lakh candidates took the state-level selection test for 24,640 available posts. However, 25,753 appointment letters were issued, suggesting these additional posts facilitated illegal recruitments.
The recruitment scandal has been a major embarrassment for the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government. Several prominent leaders, including a former education minister and a key aide to Mamata Banerjee, are currently imprisoned in connection with the case.
Senior BJP leader Amit Malviya described the Supreme Court’s decision as a significant "defeat" for Mamata Banerjee. He stated, "Mamata Banerjee's close aide, Partha Chatterjee, who served as the Education Minister and was apprehended with large sums of cash, is already jailed for his involvement in the scam. The Chief Minister, under whose oversight this fraud has impacted thousands of young careers, must also be held accountable and face trial."