THE SUPREME Court on Tuesday set aside the Calcutta High Court order directing a CBI probe into the Mamata Banerjee government’s decision to create supernumerary posts to accommodate about 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff who lost their jobs following the court ruling their selection by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) as illegal.
The bench presided by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, however, said the CBI probe into other aspects of the scam would continue.
On April 3, the SC upheld the HC order that invalided the WBSSC’s 2016 appointment of more than 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff, terming the entire selection process “tainted beyond resolution” and calling for a fresh selection process to fill the vacancies. However, the court said it will separately hear the Special Leave Petition filed by the West Bengal government against the High Court’s direction for CBI investigation into the creation of supernumerary posts.
On Tuesday, the bench noted that the state Cabinet had decided to create the supernumerary posts to accommodate the alleged illegal appointees and that this was approved by the Governor, and added that there was, however, no prayer made in the petition before the HC challenging it.
The bench also referred to Articles 74(2) and 163(3), according to which any advice tendered by the Council of Ministers to the President or Governor as the case may be cannot be the subject matter of inquiry in any court.
Setting aside the HC order, the SC said, “Having regard to aforsaid discussion we are of the view that the High Court was not justified in referring the issue of creation of supernumerary posts to CBI. Pursuant to the Cabinet decision, we take note of Articles 74(2) and 163(3) which specifically state that the question whether any, and if so what, advice was taken by the Cabinet of ministers to aid and advise the Governor shall not be inquired into in any court.”
The April 3 ruling said that in the matter, the “entire selection process has been vitiated and tainted beyond resolution. Manipulations and frauds on a large scale, coupled with the attempted cover-up, have dented the selection process beyond repair and partial redemption. The credibility and legitimacy of the selection are denuded”.
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On April 22, 2024, the Calcutta High Court had cancelled the recruitment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff by WBSSC after finding that OMR sheets were manipulated. The state government then moved the top court against the cancellation of the selection process, saying the HC could have left out the valid appointments.
In its April 3 ruling, the SC said, “For candidates not specifically found to be tainted, the entire selection process has been rightly declared null and void due to the egregious violations and illegalities, which violated Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. As such, the appointments of these candidates are cancelled.”
The SC also pulled up the WBSSC over its decision to destroy the OMR sheets without scanned mirror images being preserved in the server. “The contradictory stance of WBSSC on the possession and destruction of scanned/mirror copies of the OMR sheets reflects an attempt to cover up illegalities and lapses in the selection process,” it said.
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