In a setback to the West Bengal government, the Calcutta high court on April 22 cancelled the 2016 recruitment process for government-sponsored and aided schools. As many as 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff who were appointed through a state-level selection test are set to lose their jobs and have been asked by the high court to return their salaries along with 12% interest.
Declaring the selection process “null and void”, the high court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the appointment process and submit a report in three months.
The selection process
It was meant to fill vacancies for the posts of assistant teachers for Classes 9-10, assistant teachers for Classes 11-12, Group C (clerks) and Group D posts.
Candidates for teaching posts took the teacher eligibility test (TET) and those who qualified were called for an interview and personality test.
A state-level selection test (SLST) panel was prepared. Selection was on the basis of weightage given to the TET score, academic marks, interview and personality test.
The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) issued appointment letters based on the recommendations of the School Service Commission (SSC). These recommendations were made strictly on the basis of the SLST merit list.
Why the controversy
Instead of mentioning the SLST scores, the SSC uploaded the names and application IDs of the successful candidates. Some TET candidates then moved the Calcutta high court complaining that at least 25 candidates whose names were not in the SLST panel got appointment letters.
The high court appointed an inquiry committee led by retired HC judge Ranjit Kumar Bag to look into the complaints.
The committee held that a five-member panel set up by former education minister Partha Chatterjee to oversee school appointments was “not valid under the law”. It also named three state officials who allegedly manipulated the rankings of candidates and issued appointment letters even after the expiry of the panel on May 4, 2019. Subsequently, the high court ordered a CBI inquiry.
CBI’s findings and HC’s action
The CBI told the high court that members of the five-person panel identified teaching vacancies
in an “unauthorised manner” and issued “fictitious” recommendations by scanning signatures of chairpersons of regional service commissions under the SSC.
It also pointed to manipulation of optical marks recognition (OMR) answer scripts of candidates, where even those scoring 0 or 1 were given qualifying marks of 51 in the SLST panel. The original OMR sheets had been destroyed.
The high court directed the CBI to hand over the OMC hard disks to the SSC and ascertain whether it matched its database. It also gave an opportunity to the candidates to inspect the OMR sheets.
Based on the findings, the high court directed the SSC to submit a report on the number of candidates who got out-of-turn appointments, those who got appointments beyond the SLST panel and those who submitted blank OMR sheets but were appointed.
The state government, in a bid to placate genuine candidates, tried to give them
appointments by creating supernumerary posts, which the high court struck down.
Number of illegal appointees
The high court says the exact number could not be identified yet, and its sweeping order on April 22 will also affect those who were genuine appointees. It has, therefore, directed the CBI to continue with the investigation.
The high court held that non-cooperation from the SSC and the state government was making it impossible to “remove the grain from the chaff”.