The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside Calcutta High Court’s direction for a CBI inquiry into the Bengal government’s decision to create supernumerary posts for 6,861 teaching and non-teaching staff to accommodate those appointed allegedly through illegal means in the cash-for-jobs scam.

Tuesday’s order brought some relief to the Mamata Banerjee government that was reeling from the impact of the apex court’s April 3 judgment upholding the termination of the services of 25,753 teaching/non-teaching staff in government and aided schools in the state, following illegalities in the 2016 recruitment process.

A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, however, clarified that the CBI would continue its probe into the recruitment process other than those for supernumerary posts, which were created through a decision taken by the Mamata Banerjee cabinet in May 2022.

The Supreme Court noted that normally, decisions taken by the cabinet could not be struck down without valid reasons and in the present case, the high court passed the impugned judgments though there wasn’t any challenge to the cabinet decisions.

The bench referred to Articles 74(2) and 163(3) of the Constitution, under which the aid and advice rendered by the cabinet to the President or governor as the case may be is not subject to judicial review and cannot be called into question before a court.

“Having regard to the aforesaid discussion, we are of the view that the high court was not justified in referring the issue of creation of supernumerary post to CBI…The aforesaid direction is set aside,” CJI Khanna said while dictating the order.

However, the official order was not uploaded till the evening.

On April 3, the bench had upheld the termination of nearly 25,753 teaching/non-teaching staff recruited by Bengal government in 2016, observing that “entire selection process has been vitiated and tainted beyond resolution,” as “manipulations and frauds on a large scale, coupled with the attempted cover-up, have dented the selection process beyond repair and partial redemption”.

The bench added that “the credibility and legitimacy of the selection are denuded”.

The judgment dealt a severe blow to the Mamata government that challenged Calcutta High Court’s verdict of April 22, 2024, which had earlier quashed the entire selection process conducted by the West Bengal Central School Service Commission for recruitment of non-teaching staff in Groups C and D, and assistant teachers for classes IX and X, as well as classes XI and XII.