SC Calls Teacher Recruitment Scam as Systematic Fraud

While hearing a petition that challenges the Calcutta High Court’s order that cancelled the jobs of over 25,000 teachers and non-teaching employees in the schools of West Bengal, Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud, along with Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, termed this teacher recruitment scam a systematic fraud.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday put up tough questions for the West Bengal government authorities and said that it was their duty to digitalize records related to the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff in Bengal’s government-aided schools.

The Digital Copies

The Supreme Court asked whether the state government was duty-bound to maintain the documents in digitized form. The court said that it doesn’t expect the government to hold onto the OMR copies, but it is a must to maintain a digital record in this day and age. The apex court further went on to say that it was the state’s responsibility to maintain such records as the SSC, i.e., the State Selection Committee.

The court further held that the state government failed to show that the data was maintained by its authorities when asked about its availability.

Court’s Observations

The Chief Justice of India, while presided over this matter, held that “nothing remains if the faith of the public goes. This is systemic fraud. Public jobs are extremely scarce today and are looked at for social mobility. What remains in the system if their appointments are also maligned? People will lose faith. How do you countenance this?”

However, the Supreme Court instructed that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) should refrain from taking any hasty action against the officials accused of authorizing the creation of additional posts until the next scheduled court hearing.

The next hearing is scheduled for July 16.

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