West Bengal SSC Recruitment Case : Supreme Court Asks If Untainted Appointments Can Be Segregated, Stays CBI Probe Against Govt Officials

The Supreme Court on Monday (April 29) asked if it was possible to segregate untainted appointments out of the over 25,000 appointments made by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WB SSC)to teaching and non-teaching posts in 2016, which the Calcutta High Court has directed to be set aside entirely on the ground of fraud.A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was hearing the petitions filed by the State of West Bengal, the SSC and certain affected employees challenging the April 22 judgment delivered by the Calcutta High Court.Posting the petitions to next Monday for further hearing, the bench turned down the petitioners' prayer for a stay of the High Court's direction to cancel the appointments at the present juncture, pointing out that the matter is to be considered next week. However, the bench stayed the High Court's direction to the CBI to undertake further investigation with regard to the persons involved in the State Government approving supernumerary posts to accommodate illegal appointments and to take such persons into custodial interrogation if necessary."Look at how it's done...OMR sheet completely destroyed, mirror images not there, people not in the panel are recruited...this is a complete fraud," Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud observed.Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi questioned the High Court's decision to set aside the entire appointments even when the CBI has found irregularities only in 8000 names. Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta, appearing for the School Service Commission, also contended that the High Court erred in setting aside the entire appointments when the untainted appointments could have been segregated. Senior Advocates Dushyant Dave, Mukul Rohatgi etc., also made similar arguments. It was also argued that an employee, who has been substantively appointed to a post, can be terminated only after an enquiry process in terms of the service rules and the High Court ordering a blanket termination was violative of the principles of natural justice as well as Article 311 of the Constitution.CJI asked if it was possible to segregate the untainted appointments given that the OMR sheets have been destroyed. Rohatgi replied that secondary materials are available."The question for all of you is to demonstrate that where on the basis of material available it is possible to segregate valid and invalid appointments and who are the beneficiaries of the fraud. 25000 is a big number. We see that 25,0000 jobs taken away is a serious thing. Unless we see that the entire thing is fraught with fraud..." CJI observed.On April 22, the Calcutta High Court had invalidated these jobs across government and aided schools. The jobs came under the scanner due to the infamous cash-for-jobs recruitment scam. The State has argued that the High Court, instead of segregating the valid appointments from the invalid ones, has erroneously set aside the 2016 selection process entirely. It has also been averred that this will affect around 25,000 teaching and non-teaching staff in the State.It has also been pleaded that the High Court solely relied upon the oral arguments without the support of affidavits. Further, it has been argued that the High Court has acted in utter disregard of the fact that the same will result in a huge vacuum in the State Schools unless a new selection process is completed. The State has emphasized that this will adversely impact the students given that the new academic session is approaching. The State has also assailed the impugned order on the ground that it ordered the SSC to conduct a new selection process for declared vacancies within two weeks of the upcoming election results without acknowledging the understaffing issue in schools. Brief Details Of The Impugned OrderIn a detailed order running into more than 280 pages, a division bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi cancelled the entire panel of the 2016 SSC Recruitment upon finding irregularities with OMR sheets and ordered the state to conduct fresh examinations for the same.Not only this, but the Court also directed the appointees, who were recognised to have been fraudulently appointed, to return the salary they had drawn. The Court observed that the entire panel of recruitment originating out of the 2016 recruitment process had been tainted due to the irregularities with the OMR sheets, many of which were found blank, and were liable to be cancelled.The Court also found that many of those whose appointments had been challenged had been appointed after the panel for the 2016 recruitment had expired by submitting blank OMR sheets.In view of the above projection, the Court had also directed an investigation into those who perpetrated the fraud and disposed of the pleas by canceling the entire 2016 SSC Recruitment Panel.Case Details : THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL vs. BAISHAKHI BHATTACHARYYA (CHATTERJEE) SLP(C) No. 009586 - / 2024 Click Here To...

West Bengal SSC Recruitment Case : Supreme Court Asks If Untainted Appointments Can Be Segregated, Stays CBI Probe Against Govt Officials

Anmol Kaur Bawa

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