Mita Mukherjee

The Calcutta High Court on Monday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct an inquiry into the alleged illegal appointment of assistant teachers of state-aided schools for Classes IX and X who had got selected on the basis of recommendation of the West Bengal School Service Commission.

Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay today asked the CBI to probe the irregularities in the recruitment, to find out whether the illegal appointments were given following instruction of any person, if so who are they and whether there had been transaction of money.

The court today directed the CBI to submit a preliminary report before it by March 28.

The court had earlier ordered the cancellation of appointment of six assistant teachers in Murshidabad district of Bengal after it found that the appointments of these teachers were given on the basis of illegal recommendation of the West Bengal School Service Commission.

One Mohammad Abdul Gani Ansari, an aspiring teacher, had recently apprised the Court that candidates who scored lower marks than him had been called for counseling, subsequently got selected for the job and they were presently working in different state-aided schools. The petitioner had stated in his complaint that he had scored higher points than these candidates yet he was not even called to appear in the counseling.  

The state school service commission had admitted before the court that marks scored by these selected candidates were lower than the scores of the petitioner. The commission had said that it recommended the appointment of these candidates by “mistake”.

The court, however, had Calcutta High Court remarked that this was a “deliberate illegal action” on the part of the commission and not a “mistake”.

The court had observed that these teachers did not have any “legal right” to work as assistant teachers and that they should stop getting salary. The court had further ordered that they should refund the amount they have received till date as salaries.

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