The Supreme Court has scheduled to hear in September the pleas of the West Bengal government and others challenging the Calcutta High Court's order that invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff in state government and aided schools, as per a PTI report.
On Tuesday, a bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud granted parties until August 16 to file their responses to the petitions. "Time for filing the written submissions for the petitioners in the West Bengal group of matters will be extended till next Friday," Chief Justice Chandrachud stated.
The bench, which includes Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, directed the nodal counsel to compile a common electronic record, ensuring all cited judgments are included in one set of PDF documents. The Supreme Court has been hearing 33 petitions regarding the high court's April 22 judgment and has now set a final hearing for September, reported the PTI.
On July 16, the court provided a final opportunity for responses to the pleas challenging the high court order, including one filed by the West Bengal government. The bench noted that many parties had yet to file their response affidavits, including the West Bengal government in cases where it was a respondent.
The bench issued several procedural directions and appointed four lawyers as nodal counsel: Astha Sharma, who represents the state government, Shalini Kaul, Partha Chatterjee, and Shekhar Kumar, tasked with filing a common compilation in electronic form.
On May 7, the Supreme Court granted significant relief to West Bengal teachers and non-teaching staff whose services were nullified due to irregularities in the appointment process, while allowing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to continue its probe. The court specified that the CBI could investigate state Cabinet members if necessary but should refrain from arresting any suspects during the investigation.
The court clarified that if it concluded that the appointments were illegal, the affected teachers and non-teaching staff would need to refund their salaries and other emoluments. The bench emphasised the need to examine whether tainted appointments could be isolated, suggesting that setting aside the entire process might not be warranted if segregation was possible.
Chief Justice Chandrachud described the alleged recruitment scam as "systemic fraud," stressing the importance of public faith in the job recruitment process.
The high court had previously directed the CBI to investigate the appointment process and submit a report within three months. It had also instructed those appointed beyond the 24,640 officially available vacancies, after the recruitment date, or with blank OMR sheets to return all received remunerations with 12 per cent interest per annum within four weeks.
More than 23 lakh candidates participated in the 2016 State Level Selection Test (SLST) for 24,640 vacancies, but 25,753 appointment letters were issued, leading to the controversy.