SC Extends Last Chance to File Responses in West Bengal School Jobs Case: Key Details

The Supreme Court of India, on Tuesday, provided a final opportunity for responses to pleas challenging a Calcutta High Court order that invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff in government and aided schools in West Bengal. This order includes a plea filed by the West Bengal government itself, as per a PTI report.

The apex court has been handling 33 petitions related to the high court’s April 22 judgment on this issue, and has scheduled the final hearing for three weeks from now.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, Justice J B Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra noted that many parties, including the West Bengal government, have not filed their response affidavits.

The bench issued several procedural directions and appointed four lawyers as nodal counsel. These lawyers, Astha Sharma (representing the state government), Shalini Kaul, Partha Chatterjee, and Shekhar Kumar, were tasked with filing a common compilation in electronic form after coordinating with lawyers of various parties.

"If we don't do this exercise it will be impossible to write down the judgement," the CJI emphasised.

During the hearing, a lawyer requested that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) be directed to submit a status report on the investigation conducted thus far, the PTI reported.

On May 7, the Supreme Court had provided significant relief to the teachers and non-teaching staff whose services were invalidated by the high court due to irregularities in the appointment process. The court allowed the CBI to continue its probe and investigate state cabinet members if necessary. However, it asked the CBI not to arrest any suspects during the investigation.

The Supreme Court made it clear that the affected teachers and staff would need to refund their salaries and other emoluments if it was determined that their recruitment was illegal. The bench noted that the issue requiring closer examination was whether the tainted appointments could be segregated from the valid ones.

The high court had termed the alleged recruitment scam as a "systemic fraud" and underscored the importance of maintaining public faith in the appointment process. "Public job is so scarce... 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," the CJI had remarked.

In addition to cancelling the appointments, the Calcutta High Court directed the CBI to investigate the appointment process and report back within three months. Over 23 lakh candidates had appeared for the State Level Selection Test (SLST)-2016 for 24,640 vacancies, but 25,753 appointment letters were issued. The high court ordered those appointed beyond the available vacancies, after the recruitment date, and those who submitted blank OMR sheets to return all benefits received with 12% per annum interest within four weeks.