“What is the justification...?”: Supreme Court Stays the Annulment of 25,573 Jobs in Alleged West Bengal Recruitment Scam; Upholds CBI Probe

The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the Calcutta High Court’s order directing the annulment of jobs of 25, 573 assistant teachers and non-teaching staff in connection with the alleged West Bengal teachers recruitment scam. However, the apex court stated that the Central Bureau of Investigation can continue its probe into the matter and allowed the SSC to undertake a fresh selection process. The next hearing has been scheduled for July 16.

“By an interim order, the govt order creating supernumerary posts has been stayed by the HC. In this backdrop, the HC by its impugned order has while setting aside the appointments directed (1) OMR sheets in 3 hard disks must be uploaded on SSC website (2) persons appointed outside the panel after the expiry of the panel must return all the benefits received with 12 % interest per annum failing which the outstanding will be recovered as land revenue; CJI: (3) the CBI shall investigate into the blank OMR sheets and outside panel appointments ; (4) CBI shall investigate into supernumerary posts by doing a custodial interrogation ; (5) the SSC shall undertake fresh selection process,” stated the Supreme Court in its order.

Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud asked that if the “appointment that suffers” can be segregated from those “tainted.” The Chief Justice stated that if there is a process of segregating the ones innocent from those tainted, what is the justification behind penalizing all?

“The total illegal appointments were 8000+....the instinctive reaction is that 8324 are illegal then what is the ground for setting aside the entire appointments? What is the justification of throwing out, unless we come to the conclusion that the process is so tainted by fraud that the entire appointments goes,” noted the Chief Justice.

Earlier today, the Supreme Court had termed the alleged recruitment scam as “systematic fraud”, calling out the West Bengal government. The apex court raised concerns about the state's failure to maintain digitized records relating to the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, leading the bench, questioned the West Bengal government's appeal against the Calcutta High Court's April 22 order to annul these appointments.

"The public job is so scarce...Nothing remains if the faith of the public goes. This is systemic fraud. Public jobs are extremely scarce today and are looked at for social mobility. What remains in the system if their appointments are also maligned? People will lose faith, how do you countenance this?" stated the Apex Court.

In its April 22 judgement, the High Court had cited violations of constitutional articles and expressed concerns about retaining appointees selected through a "dubious process." The court acknowledged the plea for safeguarding legally obtained appointments but justified its decision as necessary for upholding the public interest.​