Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of Calcutta High Court on Friday issued yet another CBI probe order relating to the appointment of teachers in secondary schools.
The court held that the decision of the education department to create supernumerary posts for recruiting deprived teachers in secondary schools was illegal. It directed the CBI to find out the person or persons who provided the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) with the idea of creating the additional posts.
“The decision to create supernumerary posts and taking of the decision not to terminate the services of the teachers who got illegal appointments is contrary to the provisions of law,” the judge said.
“The decision to create supernumerary posts is hereby declared illegal.”
“How does the state take the decision not to cancel the appointments of the illegally appointed teachers even after the court declared their appointments illegal and directed the state to identify them?” the judge asked.
Justice Gangopadhyay asked Manish Jain, the state education secretary, to appear in court on November 24 along with the files containing the documents relating to the decision of creating supernumerary posts.
Senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya had argued that the state had no jurisdiction to create such supernumerary posts. During the hearing, the judge summoned the WBSSC chairman to his court.
In the second half, when chairman Siddhartha Majumdar came to the court, the judge asked who had given him the idea of creating the supernumerary posts.
Majumdar said as the council chairman he took the decision.
The judge declined to accept the submission and said: “I know him well. He cannot take such a decision.”
The judge then issued the order asking the CBI to initiate a fresh probe to find out the actual person or persons who came up with the idea.
Soon after the court order, the commission moved a petition seeking revision of the order. But the court rejected the plea and said: “The commission is a puppet. Some corrupt persons are controlling it....” The judge then asked the CBI to place its order on the issue within a week.