The Supreme Court on Monday stayed Calcutta High Court order directing Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe West Bengal government officials' role in teacher recruitment scam. The top court was hearing a plea by the West Bengal government against a Calcutta High Court order invalidating the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff made by the School Service Commission (SSC) in state-run and state-aided schools.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra said it will hear the matter on May 6. "We will stay the direction which says the CBI will undertake further investigation against officials in the state government," the bench said.
Cancelled all appointments of teaching, non-teaching staff through 2016 state-level test in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided schools, the Calcutta High Court on April 22 ordered a probe by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the irregularities in state school jobs case.
A division bench comprising justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi of the Calcutta High Court had on April 22 pronounced its judgement on petitions and appeals relating to alleged irregularities in the selection of candidates in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided secondary and higher secondary schools through a 2016 recruitment process.
The CBI, which investigated the case on an order of the high court, arrested former state education minister Partha Chatterjee and some functionaries who held positions in the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) during the occurrence of the alleged scam.
The division bench was formed by the Chief Justice of the high court on a direction of the Supreme Court. The bench had heard numerous petitions and appeals relating to the selection of candidates for appointment by the SSC in the categories of teachers of classes 9, 10, 11 and 12 and Group-C and D staffers through State Level Selection Test-2016 (SLST).
On writ petitions by some candidates who appeared in SLST-2016, but did not get jobs, a single bench presided by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had ordered CBI investigation into alleged irregularities in the recruitment process, according to a news agency PTI report. The high court had also ordered the termination of a number of jobs of teaching and non-teaching staffers after finding irregularities.
