Kolkata, Jul 5 (PTI): Senior IAS officer Dushyant Nariala has been appointed the chairman of the West Bengal Central School Service Commission, according to an official notification.
Nariala, a 1993-batch IAS officer, is currently serving as the principal resident commissioner of the state in New Delhi.
He also holds the additional charge of director general of the Netaji Subhas Administrative Training Institute (NSATI) and chairman of the State National Tobacco Control Cell Steering Committee (SNTCSCC).
According to the notification issued by the Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department on Saturday, Nariala will hold the additional charge of chairman of the school service commission, along with his existing responsibilities, until further orders.
Nariala was appointed the chief secretary of the state during the assembly elections.
Sharing the notification on social media, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said his government had fulfilled its promise of keeping recruitment commissions free from political influence and modelling them on the lines of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
He said the government had also announced during the state budget that no political personalities would be appointed to any recruitment commission.
"To ensure transparency and impartiality in the recruitment process of the WBCSSC, senior IAS officer Dushyant Nariala has been given the responsibility of chairman of the commission," he said.
The chief minister asserted that merit and qualifications would be the sole criteria for government jobs.
Without naming the previous Trinamool Congress government, Adhikari alleged that the "injustices committed during the past corrupt government" and "institutional corruption" in recruitment would find no place under the present dispensation.
"Our main goal is to protect the rights of qualified and talented job seekers and provide them with employment letters. We will continue this effort to build a bright future for the youth," he said.
The school service commission is responsible for recruiting teachers and other staff for state-aided secondary and higher secondary schools.
The commission has been at the centre of the multi-crore school recruitment scam, in which the alleged appointment of thousands of ineligible candidates in teaching and non-teaching posts triggered investigations by central agencies.
The controversy led to the arrest of several senior officials and political leaders, with the Supreme Court terminating about 26,000 appointments made through the tainted recruitment process in 2016. PTI BSM SOM ACD