NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday reserved its judgment on a petition filed by the West Bengal government, challenging the Calcutta High Court’s April 22, 2024, order that annulled the recruitment of over 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff for state-run and state-aided schools.
During the hearing, the CBI outlined the systematic manipulation of OMR (answer) sheets, highlighting cases where individuals who submitted blank answer sheets were appointed, and those with lower ranks were selected over more qualified candidates. The key issue for the bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar was whether the irregularities were widespread or if the tainted candidates could be identified and segregated.
For those supporting the Calcutta High Court’s ruling, senior advocate Maninder Singh argued that the Supreme Court has consistently held that when the fraud in a recruitment process is so extensive, the entire process should be annulled, and a fresh selection should be conducted, regardless of how long the appointed candidates have served as teachers.
Senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, representing the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), countered that while the Commission was initially unaware of the full extent of the irregularities, the CBI investigation had limited the issue to 5,485 candidates, about 25% of the total recruits. He suggested that the tainted candidates could be segregated, allowing the recruitment of the remaining individuals to be validated by the Supreme Court.
This view was supported by senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the state government, who conceded that there were some irregularities but argued that they were not as widespread as claimed by the Calcutta High Court. A group of senior advocates, including A M Singhvi, Mukul Rohatgi, P S Patwalia, C S Vaidyanathan, Indira Jaising, and Dushyant Dave, represented the petitioners seeking to preserve the jobs of the untainted teachers.
Dushyant Dave attempted to inject political controversy into the case, suggesting that the CBI inquiry was initiated by a judge of the Calcutta High Court, who later resigned and joined a political party, subsequently being elected to the Lok Sabha on that party’s ticket.
