In a massive setback to the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal, the Supreme Court today upheld the Calcutta High Court order, cancelling the appointment of more than 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff under the West Bengal School Service Commission.
The Supreme Court said the entire selection process is “vitiated by manipulation and fraud” and its credibility and legitimacy “denuded”.
The bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar said it saw no reason to interfere with the High Court order. The court said that the appointments resulted from cheating and are thus fraudulent.
The top court, however, made some modifications to the High Court order. The high court had ruled that the employees must return the salary they have drawn since their appointment in 2016. The Supreme Court said they need not return the salary, but “nothing after this”.
The court asked the state government to complete a fresh selection process within three months.
