New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday (February 10) reserved its verdict on a bunch of pleas challenging the Calcutta High Court order last year cancelling over 25,000 school jobs in West Bengal for alleged irregularities in the appointment process in recruitment.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar reserved the verdict on 124 pleas, including the one filed by the state government of West Bengal, challenging the High Court order.
“Arguments heard. Judgement reserved,” the bench said while reserving the judgment.
Apex court started final hearing on December 19 last year
The apex court started the final hearing on December 19 last year and heard the submissions at length by parties on subsequent hearings on January 15, January 27 and February 10.
Apex court earlier last year stayed High Court order
The top court earlier on May 7 last year, in a major relief to affected teaching and non-teaching staff, stayed the High Court order and directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to not take any precipitative action like arrest of a suspect during its investigation. It, however, permitted the central agency to continue its investigation into the matter.
The top court, however, had made it clear that the affected teaching and non-teaching staff would need to refund the salaries and other emoluments if it was established that their recruitment was illegal.
High Court invalidated over 25,000 appointments
The High Court declared the appointments, which were made by West Bengal’s School Service Commission (SSC) in 2016, of over 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff in the state-run and state-aided schools in West Bengal “null and void”.
What did the High Court say?
The High Court cancelled these appointments after finding that there were irregularities with Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets and that many of the appointments were made after the panel for the 2016 recruitment had expired by submitting blank OMR sheets. It had directed the illegally appointed appointees to return all remunerations and benefits they had received with 12 per cent interest per annum and had directed the CBI to probe the appointment process and submit a report.
