The state cabinet on Monday decided to abolish the Group D Recruitment Board and hand over to the West Bengal Staff Selection Commission the responsibility of appointing Group D employees at the government.

The move, sources said, is significant at a time when allegations of irregularities have come up over recruitment of teachers into government and government-aided schools.

“The cabinet decided to do away with the Group D Recruitment Board that was set up in 2016 to expedite the filling up of vacant group D posts. The government does not want any controversy over recruitments and that is why the staff selection commission has been given the responsibility again,” said a minister after the cabinet meeting at Nabanna on Monday.

The WBSSC functions under the administrative control of the state’s personnel and administrative reforms department and primarily conducts the recruitment of Group C employees (mainly clerks) for the state government. Before the Group D board was set up, the WBSSC had been tasked with the recruitment of Group D employees.

Although no major charge of irregularities had come up against the board, the decision to wind it up was taken because the government does not want any more controversy over appointments, said a source.

“The Group D Recruitment Board has done well, but the WBSSC has a more structured infrastructure to conduct recruitment exams. So, the government decided to go the conventional way to avoid further controversies,” the source added.

The Group D Recruitment Board could conduct only one examination for 5,400 vacant Group D (mainly peons and sweepers) positions in May, 2017. In 2018, the appointments were given to the successful candidates.

State government have sources said though there is no plan to recruit Group D employees right at the moment, the decision was taken to avoid any kind of controversy in near future.