IN A major blow to the West Bengal Government, the Supreme Court on Thursday invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and staffers in the State-run and aided schools, calling the entire selection process “vitiated and tainted”. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar upheld a Calcutta High Court verdict of April 22, 2024, annulling the appointments and said the tainted candidates should refund their “salaries/payments received”.

 

“This is a case wherein the entire selection process has been vitiated and tainted beyond resolution. Manipulations and frauds on a large scale, coupled with the attempted cover-up, have dented the selection process beyond repair and partial redemption. The credibility and legitimacy of the selection are denuded,” said the 41-page judgement authored by the CJI. The verdict went on, “We find no valid ground or reason to interfere with the direction of the High Court that the services of tainted candidates, where appointed, must be terminated, and they should be required to refund any salaries/payments received. Since their appointments were the result of fraud, this amounts to cheating. Therefore, we see no justification to alter this direction.”

 

For candidates, who were untainted, it said the selection process was rightly declared null and void due to the “egregious violations and illegalities” as it violated Articles 14 (equality before the law) and 16 (equality of opportunity in matters of public employment) of the Constitution. “As such, the appointments of these candidates are cancelled. However, candidates who are already employed need not be asked to refund or restitute any payments made to them. However, their services will be terminated.