Justice Biswajit Basu of Calcutta High Court on Friday issued an interim order staying the school service commission’s decision to recruit about 1,500 physical education and work education teachers in secondary schools by creating new posts.
The interim order will be effective at least till December 1.
“The candidates who have been given recommendation letters should not be given appointments in the meantime,” the order said.
In a notification on May 19, the commission had said that about 1,500 physical and work education teachers would be recruited by creating posts for them. The recruitment process has started and nearly 1,250 candidates have been handed recommendation letters for appointment by the West Bengal School Service Commission.
The judge asked the state education department to file an affidavit by November 30 stating whether the posts would be filled from among candidates who have apparently been deprived of jobs because of alleged irregularities in recruitments. The case will be heard again that day.
Before the appointments, the court wanted a clarification from the state regarding the recruitments, a lawyer said.
While issuing the order, the judge said: “I am only concerned about the fate of students and want to know whether efficient teachers are going to be recruited in the said posts.”
During the hearing, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, a lawyer for the petitioners, raised the question whether the state or the commission could create new posts of teachers on their own.
Advocate-general S.N. Mookherjee submitted that the state was empowered to do so.
Judge names CBI SIT chief
CBI deputy inspector-general Ashwin Shenvi will lead the special investigation team (SIT) that is probing allegations of irregularities in school recruitments.
Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the high court on Friday ordered Shenvi to take charge of the team in seven days. Shenvi is currently posted in the CBI’s anti-corruption wing in Chandigarh.
In compliance with the judge’s order on Thursday, the CBI on Friday tabled a list of three names of CBI officers of the rank of DIG. They are Sudhangshu Khare, Michael Raj and Ashwin Shenvi.
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