West Bengal Teachers' Job Scam: Calcutta High Court Cancels Recruitment Of Over 23,000 Staff; TMC And BJP React

In the latest development on the West Bengal teachers' recruitment scam, the Calcutta High Court on Monday (22 April) canceled the recruitment of over 23,000 staff and asked them to return their salaries with interest.

23,753 teachers and non-teaching staff, who were recruited by the 2016 School Service Commission (SSC), will now have to give up their jobs as the court found the recruitment "illegal".

The bench headed by Justice Debangsu Basak observed, "We have no other way but to cancel the whole recruitment panel," as it believed that the OMR sheets of Group C, Group D, Class IX and X were manipulated.

The court also noted that the names of those who were recruited were included in the panel illegally. It asked for fresh recruitment for the vacated posts within 15 days, Indian Express reported.

While the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Kunal Ghosh called the order "unfortunate" asserting that the Mamata Banerjee government will explore legal options, the BJP slammed the ruling party.

West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said, "It is now proved that the TMC government recruited teachers for money. They turned teachers into commodities and sold them in the market."

The manipulation of OMR sheets was determined by the Justice Bag committee, which was formed by the Calcutta HC in 2021. The investigation by CBI and ED was also ordered.

Bengal's former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and his close aide Arpita Mukherjee with Rs 21 crore cash were arrested in the case in August 2022. Recently, there were ED raids in the case.