The West Bengal School Service Commission on Wednesday said it had started a process of ascertaining the exact number of Group C and D post available in government-aided schools with the “removal of wrongly appointed candidates” in compliance with a court order.
An order issued on Wednesday evening by the commission’s secretary says: “In compliance with the court order dated 21.09.2022 it is hereby notified that the exact count and availability of vacancies created by the removal of wrongly appointed candidates of Group C and Group D are being ascertained from the respective DIs (district inspector of schools).”
“The counselling process .... will commence from 07.11.2022....”
A commission official said they have started the process of finding out how many illegal recruitments have been made.
The commission came up with the notification a day after education minister Bratya Basu said the commission had filed an affidavit in the high court stating that the education department was ready to recruit “deserving” candidates as teachers and Group C and D employees. The appointments of those who had been “recruited under exceptional circumstances” without adhering to the merit list would be cancelled, it stated.
Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of Calcutta High Court had asked the commission to start the process of recruiting 850-odd Group C and D employees for government-aided secondary schools and said the appointment of those recruited illegally on the basis of fake recommendation letters would be cancelled.
“We don’t want to keep the deserving candidates waiting any longer…. Could the commission say how many illegal recruitments have been made?” Justice Gangopadhyay said during lastweek’s hearing.
Siddhartha Majumdar, chairman of the commission, had told The Telegraph hours after the court's order on September 21: “We have started the process so the notification for counselling is issued by September 28...”
In April, the commission had cancelled the recruitment of at least 17 teachers in secondary schools complying with a high court order. “If Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay accepts the affidavit that the commission has placed before him on Tuesday, then we have to issue more such notices on the removal of wrongly appointed candidates,” a commission official said.
A second option in the affidavit, minister Basu said, states the government is ready to appoint all the wait-listed candidates who are protesting near the Maidan alleging irregularities in recruitments, by increasing the number of supernumerary (additional) posts that have been created.