Bengal school jobs scam: Calcutta HC orders WBBSE to cancel jobs of 1911 illegally appointed Group D staff

The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed West Bengal Central School Service Commission (WBCSSC) to terminate jobs of 1,911 non-teaching staff in Group-D category who were allegedly recruited illegally in state government-sponsored and aided schools.

A bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay also directed WBCSSC to recruit new employees in the vacant places immediately.

The order came after the court found that the candidates had received the recommendation for appointment due to manipulation of their OMR (optical mark recognition) answer sheets of recruitment examination for Group-D employees in 2016.


Taking immediate action, WBCSSC in an order published on Friday said, “The recommendations of 1,911 candidates are hereby cancelled today in compliance to the direction of Hon’ble High Court.”

The terminated employees will have to return their salaries till date step by step and will be quizzed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

This is a major development in connection with the WBSSC recruitment scam that the CBI and the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) have been investigating for the last one year.

It has been alleged that during the tenure of former WBSSC chairman Subires Bhattacharya, recruitments were made by manipulating OMR sheets of candidates.

The Calcutta High Court on Friday asked Bhattacharya to disclose the names of persons who had asked to manipulate the results and said protection will be provided to his family.

WBSSC has published the list of 1,911 terminated candidates on its website, along with address and names of the schools whose recruitment will stand rejected following the cancellation of the recommendations.

The commission had in an affidavit named 2,823 “Grade-D candidates in connection with third regional level selection test (NT), 2016, who were reported by the CBI as of having manipulations found in their OMR data”.

“The Central School Service Commission has found that 1,911 recommendations were issued among the 2,823 candidates,” the commission said in its order.

Asked for his reaction, state education minister Bratya Basu said, “The issue is sub judice. So, I will not comment on the matter. However, we will take action following the direction of the Hon’ble High Court.”

He said the government has sought permission from the court to recruit new employees for the vacant places from the waiting panel. “However, we were told that their OMR sheets should be verified before recruiting them. WBCSSC should proceed in a very alert manner,” Basu said.

Former state education minister Partha Chatterjee and several officials of state school education department, including MLA Manik Bhattacharya, have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the school recruitment scam.

State assembly opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari said, “We have learnt that altogether 1,911 people have lost their jobs. This count will rise to 30,000-40,000. We don't want those illegally recruited to get back their jobs as they have got jobs in lieu of money.”

The BJP leader urged these people to demand return of their bribe money from the chief minister. “Please demand the return of your money from Mamata Banerjee… Assemble in Hazra more (near her house) and demand money from her,” Adhikari said.