A Supreme Court division bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjeev Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar on Thursday morning upheld the verdict of the Calcutta high court that quashed the appointment of 25,753 candidates who gained employment through the School Service Commission, and called the process “vitiated.”

“In our opinion this case is where the entire selection process has been vitiated. Manipulation and fraud on a large scale, coupled with the intention to cover up have tainted the selection process beyond repair,” observed Chief Justice of India Sanjeev Khanna. “The legibility and credibility of the selection procedure are denuded. We find no reason to interfere in the HC, since the appointments are by fraud and cheating and we see no reason to interfere.”

“For candidates who have been specifically found to be tainted, their entire selection process has been rightly declared null and void due to egregious violations and illegalities which violate Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution. As such the appointment of these candidates is cancelled,” said CJI Khanna. “However the candidates already employed need not be asked to refund the payments made to them. However, their services have been terminated. Furthermore no candidate will be appointed once the entire examination and selection process has been declared void.”

Among the 25,753 candidates those who were previously employed in other government departments and are not among the tainted ones have been allowed to re-apply to their previous jobs, with a clause that there will be no break in service and they would be allowed increments. The state has been instructed to complete the process within three months.

Regarding the disabled appointee Soma Das, whose appointment was approved by the Calcutta high court division bench, the apex court said, “The (disabled) candidates will continue to receive wages until fresh selection is done, the disabled candidates will be permitted to participate in the fresh selection process.”

The tainted candidates will not be allowed to participate in the fresh selection process.

In April last year, a Calcutta high court division bench comprising Justices Debangshu Basak and Md Shabbir Rashidi had while declaring the appointments of teachers, assistant teachers for classes IX-XII and non-teaching staff as “null and void and cancelled”, had observed the appointments were “in violation of the constitutional provisions”.

“Fraud perpetrated and perpetuated is deep and pervasive. Any attempt to shift the proverbial grain from the chaff would be an unprofitable exercise, prolonging the agony and putting a premium of dishonesty… we are left with the only option of cancelling all appointments…,” the high court division bench had said in its judgment.

On Thursday the apex court gave its seal of approval to the HC verdict.

The high court division bench while highlighting 17 points of illegalities in the selection process had said the West Bengal Secondary Education Board, the School Service Commission and the West Bengal government could not identify the total beneficiaries from the cash-for-jobs scam.

The former state education minister Partha Chatterjee had been arrested in connection with the case and is facing trial.

The BJP state president and junior union minister Sukanta Majumdar held the chief minister responsible for the scam.

“The chief minister is responsible because she allowed her party members, who took bribes, to appoint unqualified individuals to jobs. To protect these party leaders who took money, she sacrificed the deserving candidates who had worked hard, studied, and rightfully earned their jobs,” Majumdar said.

The leader of Opposition in the Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari demanded Mamata Banerjee should resign and be arrested.

“The Supreme Court gave the SSC ample time to identify the candidates who got their appointments using unfair means. This corrupt government created supernumerary posts to save the undeserving candidates. The deserving candidates have been sacrificed to protect the undeserving ones who came with money,” Adhikari said. “Mamata Banerjee alone is responsible for this. She should immediately resign and should be arrested.

Adhikari said he along with other BJP MLAs had asked the state government to identify the beneficiaries of the cash-for-jobs scam but their pleas were ignored.