WBSSC job case: Legal hassles likely for Bengal govt as deadline for fresh recruitment process nears

Kolkata, May 12 (IANS) The state government and West Bengal School Service Commission are likely to face fresh legal hassles in case the process for fresh recruitments for teaching (secondary and higher secondary) and non-teaching (Group C and Group D categories) staff does not start within this month.

A division bench of the Supreme Court, while cancelling 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff in state-run schools in West Bengal vide an order dated April 3 this year, directed the commission to start the process for fresh recruitments for the vacant posts by issuing advertisements for the same by May 31 and conclude the entire recruitment process by December 31.

However, with just 19 days left for the deadline (for starting the process) to expire, sources said that officials at the WBSSC have yet to get confirmation from the state education department on the number of vacant posts for which recruitment will be done.

Legal circles feel that if the WBSSC misses the deadline for issuing an advertisement for fresh recruitment, then there is every possibility of a contempt-of-court being filed against them for not adhering to the apex court order.

State education department insiders, however, said that the work is on to sort out the technical modalities on this count to adhere to the apex court deadline.

On April 3 this year, the Supreme Court’s division bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar had upheld a previous order by the Calcutta High Court’s division bench of Justice Debangshu Basak and Justice Shabbar Rashidi cancelling 25,753 school jobs in West Bengal.

The apex court also accepted the observation of the Calcutta High Court that the entire panel of 25,753 candidates had to be cancelled because of the failure of the state government and the commission to segregate the “untainted| candidates from the "tainted" ones.

The state government and WBSSC had already filed review petitions at the apex court on this issue.

--IANS

src/dpb