The Calcutta High Court on Monday declared the entire panel of 2016 SSC recruitment, null and void. The High Court pronounced the judgement on petitions 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 arrested former state education minister Partha Chatterjee and some functionaries who held positions in the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) as a part of this school jobs scam.
A division bench comprising justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi ruled that all appointments from 9th to 12th and groups C and D where irregularities were found have also been declared null and void. The court has instructed the administration to take action on fresh appointments in the next 15 days. One exception in the matter has been mentioned by the high court in the case of Soma Das who is a victim of cancer. The court said that Das's job will remain safe.
Earlier, the high court had also ordered the termination of a number of jobs of teaching and non-teaching staffers after finding irregularities.
In November 2023, the Supreme Court had requested the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to constitute a division bench to hear all the petitions and appeals pertaining to the recruitment process through SLST-2016 for early adjudication.
The top court had in its order granted protection to the appointments, which were terminated by the high court, for a period of six months to enable the division bench to adjudicate on the disputes and asked CBI to complete its investigation in a time bound manner and submit report before the court.
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