[Cash For Jobs Scam] Calcutta High Court Cancels 2016 SSC Teachers' Recruitment Panel, Almost 24,000 Jobs Affected

The Calcutta High Court on Monday cancelled the 2016 job panel for SSC teachers' recruitment for classes 9-12. The Court cancelled the panel created by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSCC) upon finding that the recruitment had taken place illegally as a result of the infamous cash-for-jobs scam.

A division bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Shabbar Rashidi have passed the order which is slated to affect nearly 24,000 jobs. The bench further directed that those teachers whose appointment had been rendered invalid would have to return the salary earned by them since being recruited.

These observations came after the bench had ordered the re-evaluation of the OMR sheets from the 2016 recruitment exam in the ongoing proceedings in the cash-for-jobs multi-tier recruitment scam. 

It was found during the re-evaluation that the teachers recruited on the panel had been recruited illegally since they had been recruited against blank OMR sheets. Court ordered those recruited in such a way to immediately surrender the salaries drawn by them to the jurisdictional magistrate.

Accordingly, it cancelled all recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff which took place through the WBSSC exam in 2016, and directed the commission to re-draw the panel by initiating a fresh recruitment process.

The CBI has also been directed to look into the matter and submit its report to the Court.