SSC scam: SC lays down clear rules for fresh recruitment of teachers in Bengal

With two successive rulings, the Supreme Court has firmly outlined who is eligible to participate in an upcoming recruitment process initiated to fill over 25,000 teaching and non-teaching vacancies.

These posts became vacant following the cancellation of the 2016 West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) panel.

On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that candidates whose OMR sheets/answer scripts were found to be tampered with would not be allowed to participate in the new recruitment process under any circumstances.

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In its April judgement cancelling the entire 2016 SSC panel, the apex court had ruled that those candidates found ineligible—based on off-panel appointments, unjustified rank advancements, and tampered OMR sheets—would not be allowed to take part in the fresh recruitment process. The court also ordered them to return the salaries they had drawn.

The verdict included a list of over 6,000 ineligible candidates acknowledged by the SSC. Some of these disqualified candidates who were flagged for OMR mismatches have requested re-entry into the new recruitment process and a resumption of their April salaries.

A division bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice K.P. Vishwanathan, however, firmly dismissed the plea, reinforcing their exclusion from all future SSC hiring exercises.

Earlier this week, the court also dismissed a similar plea from candidates accused of unjustified rank jumps. Though they argued their answer sheets weren’t blank and their names appeared on the panel, the court found no reason to amend the original ruling.

Meanwhile, after over a week of protesting at the Bikash Bhavan, eligible or “untainted” teachers have decided to shift their demonstration, following a Calcutta High Court order.

However, during a press conference on Saturday, they vowed to launch a larger protest movement if West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu failed to meet them and to provide a satisfactory response by Monday. Earlier, they had also protested in front of the education minister’s residence.

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The eligible teachers also announced plans to send letters to all MPs from both the ruling and opposition parties in the state, demanding an all-party meeting to discuss possible solutions for reinstating their jobs. Additionally, they will also urge MPs to raise the issue in Parliament.

During the day’s press conference, the teachers were also seen speaking about the clash with the police in front of Bikash Bhawan on May 15. 

“We did not intentionally break the gate of Bikash Bhavan. It happened during a scuffle with the police. It was merely a momentary outburst of our anger,” an “untainted” teacher told the media.  

India