Calcutta High Court Bars Tainted Candidates from Teacher Recruitment in West Bengal

Court Ruling on Recruitment Scam

On Monday, the Calcutta High Court ruled that candidates implicated in a cash-for-jobs scandal are prohibited from participating in the new recruitment process for assistant teachers in West Bengal. This decision was reported by a legal news outlet.

Justice Saugata Bhattacharya stated that the appointments of these candidates were based on fraudulent activities. He emphasized that any applications submitted by individuals deemed 'tainted' would be automatically rejected.

The West Bengal school education department had issued a gazette notification on May 30, announcing the recruitment of assistant teachers for upper primary, secondary, and higher secondary levels in both government-run and aided schools.

On July 1, Justice Bhattacharya questioned the state government regarding the absence of a clear prohibition against these candidates in the notification.

The court instructed the state government to expedite the selection process, ensuring compliance with the Supreme Court's established guidelines.

Earlier, on April 3, the Supreme Court upheld a High Court order from April 2024 that annulled the appointments of approximately 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff by the West Bengal School Service Commission, citing manipulation and fraud in the recruitment process.

On April 17, the Supreme Court allowed 'untainted' teachers to remain in their positions until the academic year concludes or until new appointments are finalized, whichever comes first. However, this ruling did not extend to Group C and Group D employees or non-teaching staff, whose appointments were also revoked.

In April 2024, the High Court mandated the termination of these appointments following a re-evaluation of Optical Mark Recognition sheets from the 2016 recruitment exam, which revealed that selected teachers had been hired based on incomplete answer sheets.