The West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) has found out that out of 183 candidates who had allegedly got teaching jobs in government-aided schools illegally, around 80 have joined schools and are drawing salary, a senior official of the commission said.
The commission has gleaned the information from reports of the district inspectors (DI) of schools, the official said.
The commission had on Thursday evening published a list of 183 “wrongly recommended candidates” for the posts of assistant teacher at the secondary and higher secondary level, in compliance with an order of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the high court.
On the day the list was published, the commission sought a report from the DIs seeking to know how many of them have joined the service.
“The exercise was undertaken so the court could be intimated on how many among the 183 candidates have joined government-aided schools as assistant teachers. Hopefully, the court will take a call on what to be done about these teachers. We will act as ordered by the court,” the commission official said.
Sources in the school education department said the commission was likely to submit a report compiled from the reports of the DIs in the court soon.
The Telegraph reported on April 15 that the commission had in March cancelled the recruitment of at least 17 teachers in secondary schools, in compliance with an order of Justice Gangopadhyay.
Siddhartha Majumder, chairman of the commission said: “The report (to be submitted in the court) is ready. It has been sent to our learned advocate. We will act as ordered by the court.”
The commission in its communiqué told the DIs to provide details on two issues — whether the candidates “wrongly recommended” by the commission have joined schools and whether they are drawing salary.
Swapan Mandal, assistant general secretary of the Bengal Teachers’ and Employees Association, said students would be the worst-sufferers if the court terminated the service of these candidates after examining the commission’s report.
“The fresh recruitment process has not progressed because of the alleged irregularities. In this situation, if more in-service teachers lose jobs, the students will have to bear the brunt,” he said.
The SSC had on Wednesday filed a report in the court saying 183 teachers had been identified as having been appointed illegally. The next day the CBI, which is investigating alleged irregularities in the appointment of teachers, told the judge that 952 candidates had been appointed on the basis of fake recommendation letters.
Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay on Thursday asked the WBSSC to put up the list of the 183 candidates on its website by Friday.
