Kolkata: A political has erupted in West Bengal following the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold last year’s order of the Calcutta High Court cancelling all the appointments in teaching and non-teaching categories made by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) in 2016.
On April 22, 2024, the Calcutta High Court’s division bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Shabbar Rashidi cancelled 25,753 appointments made by WBSSC, which include secondary and higher secondary teachers and non-teaching staff in Group-C and Group-D categories. The appointments were cancelled on the grounds that it was impossible to segregate the genuine candidates from the ineligible ones who got jobs after paying money.
On Thursday, the apex court division bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar accepted the observation of the Calcutta High Court’s division bench and upheld the order.
According to CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member and senior advocate of Calcutta High Court Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya, who had been involved in the entire legal process since the beginning, said that though it is unfortunate that some “eligible” candidates will also have to suffer because of the apex court order, there was no other option than cancelling the entire panel.
“The nature of institutional corruption in the entire selection process was so rampant that it became impossible to segregate the ‘genuine’ candidates from ‘ineligible’ candidates. The apex court repeatedly questioned WBSSC on whether such segregation was possible or not, but the commission was not able to come up with any definite answer on this point,” Bhattacharya said.
BJP’s state president in West Bengal and the Union Minister of State Dr Sukanta Majumdar said the “genuine” candidates will now have to suffer because of the sustained efforts of the Mamata Banerjee-led state government to protect those “ineligible” candidates who got their jobs paying money to the ruling Trinamool Congress leaders.
“The apex court’s verdict has made it clear that how under Mamata Banerjee’s rule the merit of educated unemployed youth in West Bengal was sold in exchange for money. We demand the resignation of the Chief Minister, taking full responsibility for this huge corruption,” said Majumdar.
Trinamool Congress leader Biswajit Deb, who is currently the advocate general of Mizoram, said the suggestion to the state government will be to immediately file a review petition at the apex court.
“The basic principle of the legal system is that 1,000 culprits can escape, but not even one innocent should be punished. But following the verdict, now the genuine candidates will have to suffer. So I think that the state government should immediately file a review petition at the apex court,” Deb said.
However, Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya said that filing the review petition would mean another delay in the process and wastage of money from the public exchequer.
At the time the report was filed, there was no reaction from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the matter.
(IANS)
