The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted a final opportunity to file responses to pleas challenging a Calcutta High Court order invalidating the appointment of 25,753 teachers by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC).
The pleas challenging the high court order include one filed by the West Bengal government. The top court, which has been hearing 33 petitions related to the high court’s April 22 judgment, has scheduled them for a final hearing in three weeks.
A bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud along with Justices J.B. Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra was informed that many parties had not filed their response affidavits. The West Bengal government had also not filed its reply in cases where it was a respondent.
One Last Chance
“Alright, we will give them one opportunity… no counter (affidavit) filed till date. In the event that any of the respondents seek to file, they shall do so on or before two weeks. If no counter (affidavit) is filed, then the right to file a counter stands closed,” CJI Chandrachud stated.
The bench issued a series of procedural directions and appointed four lawyers as nodal counsel, asking them to compile a common electronic form after obtaining details from the lawyers of various parties. The appointed nodal counsel are Astha Sharma (representing the state government), Shalini Kaul, Partha Chatterjee, and Shekhar Kumar.
“If we don’t do this exercise, it will be impossible to write down the judgment,” the CJI said.
During the hearing, a lawyer requested a direction for the CBI to provide a status report on the ongoing probe.
Previous Hearing
On May 7, the Supreme Court granted significant relief to the teachers and non-teaching staff of West Bengal whose services were invalidated by the high court due to irregularities in the appointment process. However, the court permitted the ED to continue its probe and indicated it might investigate members of the state cabinet if necessary.
While granting relief, the bench had instructed the CBI not to take any precipitous actions, such as arresting suspects, during its investigation. The court made it clear that if it was determined that the appointments were illegal, the teachers and non-teaching staff would have to refund their salaries and other emoluments.
The Supreme Court noted that an important issue to analyze is whether tainted appointments can be segregated. If possible, it would be wrong to annul the entire process. The court had also described the alleged recruitment scam in West Bengal as “systemic fraud” and emphasized that state authorities were required to maintain digitized records of the appointments.
“Public jobs are so scarce… If the faith of the public is lost, nothing remains. This is systemic fraud. Public jobs are extremely scarce today and are viewed as crucial for social mobility. What remains in the system if their appointments are also tainted? People will lose faith; how do you countenance this?” the CJI asked the lawyers representing the state government.
In addition to canceling the appointments, the Calcutta High Court directed the CBI to investigate the appointment process and submit a report within three months. Over 23 lakh candidates had appeared for the State Level Selection Test (SLST)-2016 for 24,640 vacant posts, but 25,753 appointment letters were issued. The high court instructed those appointed outside the officially available 24,640 vacancies, those appointed after the official recruitment date, and those who submitted blank OMR sheets but obtained appointments to return all remunerations and benefits with 12 percent annual interest within four weeks.
