'Wrongfully employed may be knocked out': SC reserves verdict in WB school jobs case

New Delhi, Feb 10 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Monday observed those who got jobs “wrongly” could be “knocked out” and reserved its judgement on pleas against the April 22, 2024 Calcutta High Court decision invalidating the appointment of 25,753 teachers and other staff in state-run and state-aided schools of West Bengal.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar said, “Arguments heard. Judgement reserved.” The bench was irked when senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for some candidates, raised the issue of alleged political bias of former high court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay who ordered a CBI probe into the alleged recruitment scam.

This was a fact that the judge made a political decision, he said.

“This is unpalatable to the judiciary,” Dave said when the CJI tried to stop him from making arguments against the former high court judge who later joined politics.

“This is unacceptable, Mr Dave,” said the CJI, "we have taken up the proceedings in this case dispassionately." “We are going into evidence not into political discussion ....the law in India is that evidence even if collected illegally also is admissible,” added the CJI.

The bench heard 124 petitions, including the one filed by the West Bengal government, against the verdict.

A battery of senior counsel including Mukul Rohatgi, Ranjit Kumar, Abhishek Singhvi, Dushyant Dave, P S Patwalia, Rakesh Dwivedi, Maninder Singh, Shyam Divan, Prashant Bhushan, Meenakshi Arora and Karuna Nandi argued in the case, representing both the parties.

The CJI asked the counsel for the CBI, probing the case following the Calcutta High Court order, and the West Bengal staff selection committee (SSC) about the figures of tainted persons who were wrongly employed.

Senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, appearing for the state SSC, said initially 5,189 candidates were wrongly reported and said its plea detailed the break up of tainted and untainted candidates.

The bench said, “The difficulty is that we don't have original mark sheets and we cannot authenticate and vouch for that this is the original one… the suspicion is that whether these are the original mark sheets of the candidates, because so much has happened, it is impossible to authenticate…” The CJI, however, said “others who got it wrongly can be knocked out…” Senior advocate Maninder Singh supported the high court judgement saying the “colossal fraud can be suitably dealt" by upholding the verdict which did not "fall foul" of the top court's principles in various judgements.

He said the high court found it difficult to segregate the untainted from the tainted ones and even the state government and its SSC were not sure about the extent of wrongdoings.

Senior advocate Vibha Makhija, representing some of the affected candidates, said the concession about irregularities made by the state should not come in the way of those who got the job through a legitimate performance.

“I have a right to be considered in accordance with my merit, so I cannot be thrown out- my right to public employment is a very valuable right especially in the current economic circumstances,” Makhija said.

Another senior advocate Meenakshi Arora, appearing for some candidates, said rules of natural justice had to be complied with and the right persons should not be thrown out.

“At this juncture there is no evidence before the court to target one group as tainted. There is no clarity on the chargesheet of the CBI,” said another lawyer, seeking the high court verdict to be set aside.

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi argued for the state government.

The top court commenced the final hearing on December 19 last year and heard the parties on January 15, 27 and February 10 before reserving the verdict on the politically-sensitive case.

The high court, citing irregularities such as OMR sheet tampering and rank-jumping, had invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff in state-run and state-aided schools of West Bengal.

On May 7 last year, the apex court stayed the high court's order over the appointments made by the state's school service commission (SSC). The top court, however, permitted the CBI to continue with its probe in the matter.

The case stemmed from the alleged irregularities in the 2016 recruitment process conducted by the West Bengal SSC in which 23 lakh candidates appeared for 24,640 posts and a total of 25,753 appointment letters were issued.

The apex court had termed the it a "systemic fraud". The high court instructed those appointed outside the officially available 24,640 vacancies; appointed after the expiry of the official recruitment date and those who submitted blank OMR sheets but obtained appointments, to return all remunerations and benefits received by them with 12 per cent per interest. PTI SJK AMK

Source: PTI