The Calcutta High Court has said that it may summon West Bengal Education Minister, Bratya Basu, over the ongoing probe into the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment scam. The court, on Friday, December 16 said that Basu may be summoned to the court regarding the decision to terminate the services of teachers illegally appointed in state-run schools.
As per a report by IANS, a bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay remarked the WBSSC might turn out to be the "culprit" behind the irregularities under the scanner. "If the commission wants to terminate the services of the illegally recruited candidates, it can easily do that. What is the hurdle here? The commission has the authority to do so. If the commission is unable to do anything in the matter, then, if necessary, the state Education Minister might have to be summoned," Justice Gangopadhyay observed. The court also noted that the appointment of illegally recruited teachers deprived eligible ones of consideration.
As per instructions of the Calcutta High Court, the WBSSC has published the lists, in two separate phases, of a total of 184 candidates who were illegally recruited as teachers in state-run schools. It has also been revealed that of 184 candidates, 81 are already working as teachers in different schools. Again, nine of that 81 approached the Calcutta High Court on Friday. Justice Gangopadhyay directed the WBSSC to immediately arrange a meeting to be attended by the counsels for these nine candidates, the commission's counsel and the WBSSC Chairman.
He ordered that in the meeting the optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets of these nine candidates should be reviewed to trace how their names appeared in the merit list, surpassing others and submit a report to the court on this count. "I want a proper answer of how their names surpassed others and found a position in the recommendation list. There is no need for unnecessary arguments in the matter," Justice Gangopadhyay observed. The next hearing on the matter is scheduled on December 22.
The petition filed in this case claims that a total of 20.90 lakh candidates appeared for the written examination for primary teachers' recruitment in West Bengal in 2014. Out of these, as many as 12 lakh OMR sheets were tampered with and destroyed, which caused irregularities in the recruitment process. A CBI probe has been ordered in the case by the High Court.
