In a relief to the state government, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday granted an interim stay on a single bench-ordered CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the appointment of Group D employees in government schools through West Bengal. Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) on the alleged recommendations of West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC).
On Tuesday, the WBBSE and WBSSC had jointly moved a division bench of Justices Harish Tandon and Justice Rabindranath Samant against the single-judge order, which asked the CBI on Monday to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the alleged irregularities and submit a report by December 21. was instructed to do.
Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay passed the order while hearing a petition filed by some job aspirants, claiming that the said appointments were made after the exhaustion of the panel constituted for recruitment to Group D posts in government schools.
Imposing an interim stay on the CBI probe for three weeks, a division bench on Wednesday asked WBBSE and WBSSC to submit all documents in a sealed cover to the Registrar General of the Calcutta High Court. The Division Bench was of the opinion that the matter required further deliberation and listed the matter for further hearing on November 29.
In 2016, the state government recommended the appointment of around 13,000 non-teaching staff in various government and government-aided schools. Accordingly, WBSSC conducted examinations and interviews from time to time and subsequently a panel was constituted. The tenure of the panel had ended in May, 2019.
The petitioners had placed before the court a list of 25 such appointments which they claimed were illegally recruited. He later claimed that over 500 additional such appointments were made.
The WBBSE, in its affidavit before the court, had claimed that all the appointments were made on the basis of the recommendations of WBSSC.
But the commission submitted an affidavit stating that after May 4, 2019, no recommendation letter was issued by it as the panel constituted for Group D recruitment had expired.
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