In the matter of unauthorized appointments of 25,000 teachers, made by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) in West Bengal, the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday, imposed a stay order on additional investigation into this matter.
There has been no stay of the order terminating 25,000 teachers who were hired without authorization. The Chief Justice of India (CJI) ordered this ruling, in which no coercive actions were implemented, signalling a temporary suspension of the investigation, that postpones further judicial review.
It was informed that the panel’s validity expired on 4th May 2019, still, it was said that the Commission continued to illegally advise nominations from the panel.
Later, many candidates who had been on the panel were not appointed and filed a lawsuit. The petition claimed that the Commission had illegally recommended appointments from the panel, even when it had expired its tenure.
Relating to these controversial appointments of teachers, this step was taken by the SC, after CBI was asked by the Calcutta High Court to investigate Group-C and Group-D (non-teaching) appointment fraud in the state-run higher secondary and secondary schools.
The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) and the West Bengal Central School Service Commission (WBCSSC) were supposed to provide an affidavit. This affidavit was asked to be present before the Chief Justice’s division bench.
After the submission of the affidavit to the division bench, CBI issued an order for a probe. CJI declared that the guilty parties must be identified and actions will be taken against them.
Subsequently, the court-mandated the formation of an investigating committee headed by a DIG rank officer. This committee will investigate the fraudulent appointment of at least 25 Group-D employees, as well as a CBI investigation will be taken ahead.
The controversial appointments of at least 25,000 Group D employees are the result of influential people behind the scam. Hence, these defaulters must be exposed. The deadline as mentioned by the court to the investigating agency is 21st December to submit the preliminary report.
Approximately, 13,000 Group D employees were suggested for appointment by the state to work in state-run schools in 2016. Based on the advice, state WBCSSC conducted examinations and based on further interviews, the state commission finalised a panel of prospective employees.
Deep-Rooted Corruption In The Case:
The system of governance in Bengal is deeply infected by corruption in this case. The petitioners brought the facts in front of the Supreme Court that pertain to illegal appointments of teachers, with 25 similar appointment scams.
The court after having back-to-back hearings, criticised the Commission and threatened to launch a CBI investigation into such grave corruption allegations.
Following that, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay also mentioned that to restrict and stop recruitment paperwork from being tempered, he is considering deploying central forces at the Commission’s office.
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