Calcutta High Court Blocks Bengal Government's Stipend Plan For Dismissed Staff
Justice Amrita Sinha delivered the order on Friday, effectively halting the state government's stipend payments that were designed to support Group C and D non-teaching employees affected by the April Supreme Court judgment.
The controversy stems from a major recruitment fraud that occurred in 2016 through the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC). The Supreme Court had previously upheld the Calcutta High Court's decision to terminate the appointments of over 25,000 teaching and non-teaching staff members due to irregularities in the selection process.
In April, a Supreme Court bench comprising former Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar characterized the recruitment process as fundamentally flawed and fraudulent. The court found evidence of systematic manipulation including OMR sheet tampering and rank falsification.
Following the mass dismissals, the Mamata Banerjee-led state government announced a financial support package for affected non-teaching staff. The scheme proposed monthly stipends of Rs 25,000 for Group C employees and Rs 20,000 for Group D staff members.
This compensation plan was the government's response to the widespread job losses resulting from the Supreme Court's strict enforcement of recruitment integrity standards.
Multiple petitions were filed in the Calcutta High Court challenging both the government's stipend decision and the format of new recruitment processes being planned for teaching positions. The court reserved judgment on these matters the previous Monday before delivering Friday's ruling.
The High Court's intervention reflects ongoing judicial scrutiny of how the state government handles the aftermath of the recruitment scandal.
The Supreme Court's April decision was unambiguous in its condemnation of the 2016 recruitment process. The court described the appointments as fraudulent and equivalent to cheating, finding no grounds to overturn the High Court's original dismissal order.
However, the Supreme Court did provide some relief by ruling that dismissed employees would not be required to return salaries they had already received during their employment period. The case highlights the broader implications of recruitment fraud in public sector employment. With over 25,000 positions affected across state-run and state-aided schools, the scandal has had significant consequences for both the education system and the individuals whose careers were disrupted.
The High Court's latest ruling adds another layer of complexity to the state government's efforts to address the fallout from the recruitment irregularities while maintaining judicial oversight of remedial measures.
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The most backward Dalit groups like the Madigas have been demanding the implementation of the Justice Sadashiva Commission report on account of the commission recommending 6 per cent for the most backward SC Left group, 5 per cent for the backward SC Right, 3 per cent for the SC 'Touchable' group (Lambani, Bhovis, Korachas, Kormas), and 1 per cent for others. Among the essential findings of the Justice A J Sadashiva Commission, which were made known through a press release in 2012, is that the Madiga community or the SC Left, who are considered untouchables in the caste hierarchy in India, were more socially backward than the SC Right like the Holeyas, who are considered more acceptable in society. The commission also found that the majority of the 15 per cent reservation for 101 subcastes of Dalits in Karnataka was being cornered by the 'Right' Dalits like Holeyas and new SC groups like Bhovis, Lambanis, while the most backward groups like the Madigas remained deprived. Holeyas and Madigas are considered to make up nearly one-third each of the SC population in Karnataka, with the numbers of the Madigas being about two per cent higher than that of Holeyas, the Justice Sadashiva Commission indicated in 2012 – based roughly on census data. The BJP scheme of 2022-23 was seen as a mid-way scheme from the Justice Sadashiva recommendations to appease all SC groups. The scheme, however, backfired to some extent with the touchable groups in the SCs like the Bhovis and Banjaras revolting against the BJP in the 2023 polls over the reduced internal quota of 4.5 per cent allotted to them. The BJP scheme was, however, not implemented since the mandate for changing internal quotas was vested with the Union Government prior to the August 2024 Supreme Court order, which said the granting of internal reservation is a constitutional measure and that states can implement internal quotas for castes on the basis of empirical data. 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