Calcutta HC orders appointment of over 14,000 applicants as assistant teachers

Kolkata: The Calcutta high court directed the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) on Wednesday to appoint all 14,052 applicants who appeared for the 2016 state-level selection test (SLST) as assistant teachers in upper primary schools sponsored or aided by the West Bengal government, lawyers present at the hearing said.

The high court passed the verdict after hearing 36 appeals that cited orders passed earlier by the single bench of former judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who questioned the transparency of the selection process. When Gangopadhyay was a judge, these appellants had moved the court, alleging a financial scam in the selection process. 

A division bench of justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and justice Partha Sarathi Chatterjee on Wednesday directed the WBSSC to publish the final merit list and selection panel of 14,052 candidates in four weeks and appoint them in 12 weeks. The last merit list, which was challenged before the single bench, was published in October 2019. 

In May 2022, Gangopadhyay ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the appointment of non-teaching staff (Groups C and D) and teaching staff by the WBSSC and West Bengal Board of Secondary Education between 2014 and 2021. The appointees allegedly paid bribes in the range of Rs.5-15 lakh to get jobs after failing the selection tests.

Initiating a parallel probe, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested education minister Partha Chatterjee and his close aide Arpita Mukherjee in July 2022. In its first charge sheet, ED said it traced cash, jewelry, and immovable property worth Rs.103.10 crore linked to the duo. Around a dozen more Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders and government officials were subsequently arrested. The investigations are continuing.

Gangopadhyay resigned from service on March 5 this year, five months before retirement, by sending his resignation directly to the president. It came into effect immediately under Article 217(1)(a) of the Constitution. He later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on March 7, drawing strong reaction from the TMC chief and West Bengal Banerjee chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who questioned the credibility of the judgements he had passed.

Gangopadhyay subsequently contested the Lok Sabha polls and won the Tamluk seat in East Midnapore, defeating his nearest TMC rival by 77,733 votes.

Reacting to Wednesday’s court order, BJP Bengal spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said, “This is a legal process. What can a political party say? However, someone may challenge this order as well.”

The same apprehension was voiced by TMC state vice president Jay Prakash Majumdar.

“When chief minister Mamata Banerjee was trying to provide jobs for young people, a group of lawyers headed by CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya moved the court of the then justice Gangopadhyay, who passed one order after another. We welcome today’s order but the episode may not end here. Someone may challenge this verdict, we well,” he added.

Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, who represents many victims of the alleged bribe-for-job scam, said, “Today’s order cannot be seen as one that has set aside the orders of the single bench. Rather, it has upheld the observations of the single bench. That’s why WBSSC has been asked to publish a fresh merit list.”