The division bench of the high court headed by Justice Subrata Talukdar on Wednesday upheld the West Bengal School Service Commission’s (WBSSC) decision to cancel the appointment of 618 secondary school teachers who have been found to have secured their jobs allegedly through manipulation of marks.
Justice Biswasjit Basu of the same court had first identified 805 Class IX and X teachers who were illegally recruited following the 2016 teachers’ selection test and asked the WBSSC to terminate their services.
The 618 teachers (of 805) whose services have been terminated moved the division bench headed by Justice Talukdar against Justice Basu’s order.
The WBSSC had on February 14 informed Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the high court that the services of 618 teachers had been terminated.
The judge approved of the decision.
On Wednesday, the division bench headed by Justice Talukdar upheld Justice Gangopadhyay’s approval order.
The commission had on February 13 cancelled the recommendation for appointment issued to 618 secondary school teachers because their documents suggested manipulation of marks. Cancellation of the recommendations automatically leads to termination of service.
Lawyers connected with the case said Wednesday’sorder of the division bench has left the petitioners with no other option but to move the Supreme Court.
Siddhartha Majumdar, chairperson of the commission, said: “We will put out a list terminating the recommendation of some of the remaining candidates in the next few days.”
A commission official said that in the next phase they would cancel the recommendation for appointment issued to 130 candidates. What about the remaining 57 candidates?
“We have to move cautiously. Although there is a genuine mismatch of marks even for the 50-odd secondary school teachers, the difference between what they actually got and what their results showed was of 1 or 2 marks. We have found that they would have still got jobs. Their ranks might have gone down, but that would not have prevented them from getting their jobs,” the official said.
The commission chairperson said they would present the facts about these candidates before the court.
“We will act as advised by the court,” said Majumdar.
The Telegraph reported on February 19 that the commission had come across a genuine mismatch of marks of the 180-odd secondary school teachers between what they actually got and what their results showed.