SC to hear on Monday plea against Calcutta HC order axing 25,753 school jobs

New Delhi, Jan 26 The Supreme Court is slated to hear on Monday a batch of petitions, including the West Bengal government’s appeal, filed against the Calcutta High Court's order cancelling 25,753 appointments in teaching and non-teaching posts made by the WBSSC in 2016.

As per the details published on the website of the apex court, a bench headed by CJI Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and K.V. Viswanathan will continue to hear the matter on January 27 at 2 p.m.

In an earlier hearing, the top court had directed the completion of pleadings and granted “one last opportunity” to the private respondents (i.e., individuals who had instituted writ petitions before the Calcutta HC) to file their counter-affidavits. It had also nominated four nodal counsels to facilitate the circulation of a common compilation of pleadings in the matter.

Earlier on May 7, 2024, a bench headed by then CJI D.Y. Chandrachud had stayed the operation of the impugned order passed by the Calcutta High Court cancelling school jobs. The then CJI Chandrachud-led Bench had allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to continue with its investigation into the alleged scam but restricted the agency from taking any coercive action against the candidates or officials.

In an order passed in the third week of April 2024, the Calcutta High Court nullified the appointment of the candidates selected from the expired panels and asked them to return the entire salary drawn during their tenures, along with an annualised interest of 12 per cent, within the next four weeks. Besides directing the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) to initiate the recruitment process afresh, a division bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Shabbar Rashidi of the high court also directed the probe agency to carry on with its investigation into the matter.

Taking cognisance of the state Cabinet’s decision for the creation of super-numeric posts, it had said that the CBI, if necessary, can question the masterminds behind the creation of the seats in excess of the vacant posts. These super-numeric posts, which have remained under the cloud since the beginning, are perceived to provide room for ineligible candidates recruited illegally.

In July 2023, the apex court had set aside an interim direction passed by the Calcutta High Court terminating the services of 32,000 primary teachers and asking the West Bengal authorities to complete the recruitment process for the newly created vacancies within three months. Asking the high court to decide the appeal pertaining to the school-jobs-for-cash scam at the earliest, the Supreme Court had stressed that the opportunity for a hearing has to be given to all concerned.