[Cash For Jobs Scam] Calcutta High Court Directs Govt To Submit Details Of Teachers Appointed From 2015 TET Panel

The Calcutta High Court has directed the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBPPE) to submit the list of names of all those who were recruited from the 2015 Teacher's Eligibility Test (TET) panel.

Notably, the 2014 and 2015 TET exams have been married in controversy due to the unravelling of the now infamous cash-for-jobs recruitment scam under which high-ranking government officials were found to be taking bribes in exchange for government jobs.

The recruitment scam is being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the monitoring of the High Court and the ongoing matters are being heard by a single bench of Justice Amrita Sinha.

Earlier, a division bench of the High Court had invalidated 24,000 irregular appointments which were a result of the recruitment scam, a move which was subsequently appealed before a CJI-led bench of the Supreme Court.

At the present hearing, the Court recorded that the petitioners who appeared in the 2016 recruitment process of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education sought a direction on the Board to publish the merit list in terms of Rule 8(5) of the West Bengal Primary School Teachers Recruitment Rules, 2016.

It was also prayed for publication of the additional panel of 5% as mentioned in Rule 8(6) of the aforesaid rules.

Counsel for the Board submitted that the petitioners approached the Court by filing a writ petition only in the year 2023 in respect of the recruitment process of the year 2016 and the panel in question expires within one year of the date of its publication.

In heeding the arguments raised by the petitioners, the court directed the board to place the panel on the adjourned date of hearing.

Case: Somnath Sen & Ors. -versus- The State of West Bengal & Ors. 

Case No: W.P.A 8680 of 2023

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