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6 days ago
- Politics
- Scroll.in
Calcutta HC asks why ‘tainted' candidates in alleged recruitment scam are being allowed to reapply
The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday asked the West Bengal government why candidates accused of wrongdoing in an alleged cash-for-jobs teacher recruitment scam were being allowed to apply again, Live Law reported. West Bengal's school education department published a gazette notification on May 30 regarding the fresh appointment of assistant teachers in upper primary, secondary and higher secondary classes in government-run and government-aided schools, The Hindu reported. Justice Saugata Bhattacharya on Tuesday asked the government why there was 'no express bar to debar the tainted candidates from applying' in the notification. 'This is troubling me…the Supreme Court has said tainted candidates will not be permitted; where is such indication in [state's] the issue be sorted by filing a clarification before the SC,' the judge said, according to Live Law. The counsel for the state government urged the court not to make any remarks on record, and claimed that the fresh appointments were being carried out in line with the Supreme Court's directions. The state government sought time to clarify the matter, after which the court adjourned the case to a later date. On April 3, the Supreme Court upheld the Calcutta High Court's April 2024 order terminating the appointment of about 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff by West Bengal's School Service Commission. The bench passed the order after observing that the recruitment process was 'vitiated by manipulation and fraud'. The top court on April 17 permitted 'untainted' teachers to be retained until the end of the academic year or until fresh appointments are made, whichever is earlier. However, it did not grant relief to Group C and Group D employees, or non-teaching staff, whose appointments were also cancelled. In April 2024, the High Court issued its direction on the termination of the appointments based on the findings of a re-evaluation of the Optical Mark Recognition sheets from the 2016 recruitment examination in the case. The re-evaluation found that the selected teachers had been recruited against blank Optical Mark Recognition sheets.
Hindustan Times
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Court grants bail to two arrested in NEET fraud
MUMBAI: A special CBI court has granted bail to Sandeep Shah and Salim Patel, who were arrested by the agency earlier this month for allegedly taking money from medical aspirants by promising admission. The court observed that nothing has been brought on record against the accused to show that they will not be available for trial. (Shutterstock) As per the CBI, the duo along with others allegedly promised to influence the officials of National Testing Agency (NTA) to manipulate the score of NEET UG 2025 exams to ensure admission in government medical colleges. The agency alleged that Shah and Patel along with another person, Javed Patel, received ₹ 75 lakh and ₹ 32 lakh through hawala channel. The counsel, representing Shah and Patel, submitted that the investigation was completed and their custodial interrogation was not required. They said that the duo will not tamper with the prosecution evidence and will be available for trial. The CBI opposed the plea, submitting that Patel introduced Shah to two persons - Neeraj Kumar and Prem Ranjan from Bihar - as National Testing Agency (NTA) officers, who are yet to be intercepted. The two accused were arrested after police officers, pretending to be parents of medical aspirants, called up Shah, who allegedly demanded 90 lakh per candidate to be paid to NTA officials for manipulating the NEET marks. The court, however, said that 'there is no specific reference of ₹ 90 lakh per candidate or settlement of ₹ 87.5 lakh in the transcript'. The special sessions judge, VP Desai, in an order passed on June 21, had observed that the investigating agency neither recovered any cash nor any Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets from the men during police custody. The court said, 'Even today, the investigating officer has nothing concrete to show that till what period the other accused will be arrested. Merely because the other accused persons are yet to be arrested cannot be a ground for rejection of the bail.' The court further said that the punishment prescribed under the prevention of corruption act is not less than three years, adding that 'discretion in the nature of bail can be exercised in favour of the applicant on certain terms and conditions'.
Scroll.in
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Scroll.in
Calcutta HC restraints Bengal from paying monthly stipend to sacked non-teaching staff
The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the West Bengal government to stop paying monthly stipends to a group of non-teaching staff who had been sacked after the Supreme Court in April found irregularities in the 2016 recruitment process, Live Law reported. On June 9, Justice Amrita Sinha had reserved the judgement in the matter but had stayed the state government's plan to provide monthly stipends of Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 to the persons. In its Friday order, the court reinforced that restriction, prohibiting such payments till at least September 26. Sinha issued the direction on a writ petition challenging the provision of the allowance to the staff whose services had been terminated. The petition was filed by a candidate on the waitlist who was not recruited despite being on the merit list, allegedly due to irregularities in the hiring process. On April 3, the Supreme Court upheld the High Court's April 2024 order terminating the appointment of about 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff by West Bengal's School Service Commission. The bench passed the order after observing that the recruitment process was 'vitiated by manipulation and fraud'. The top court on April 17 permitted 'untainted' teachers to be retained until the end of the academic year or until fresh appointments are made, whichever was earlier. However, it did not grant relief to the non-teaching staff, or Group C and Group D employees, whose appointments were also cancelled. In response, the state government had announced in April that the sacked non-teaching staff would receive a monthly allowance until the Supreme Court delivered a verdict on its review petitions. On Friday, the High Court criticised the state for attempting to financially assist individuals whose employment had been declared fraudulent by the Supreme Court and directed 'tainted' candidates to 'refund any salary/payment received', Live Law reported. By introducing a stipend scheme, the state was undermining the Supreme Court's decision, the High Court observed. 'Once the highest court of the land has decided the issue of illegal appointment conclusively and opined that the appointments were result of fraud, no person who was the beneficiary of a fraudulent act of the statutory authority ought to be provided any support, that too, from the public exchequer,' the court said. The court also instructed the state government to submit its counter-affidavit addressing the petitioners' claims within four weeks, and allowed the petitioners two weeks after that to file their response, PTI reported. In April 2024, the High Court had passed its direction on the termination of the appointments based on the findings of a re-evaluation of the Optical Mark Recognition sheets from the 2016 recruitment examination in the case. The re-evaluation found that the selected teachers had been recruited against blank Optical Mark Recognition sheets.
Scroll.in
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Scroll.in
Calcutta HC questions West Bengal about monthly allowance given to sacked non-teaching staff
The Calcutta High Court on Monday questioned the West Bengal government's decision to provide a monthly allowance to a group of non-teaching staff who had lost their jobs after the Supreme Court in April found irregularities in the 2016 recruitment process, Live Law reported. Justice Amrita Sinha reserved the order in the matter but verbally questioned the state government for ' spending public money' through the disbursal of the amount, The Hindu reported. The judge was hearing a writ petition challenging the provision of the allowance to the dismissed staff, according to the newspaper. The petition was filed by a candidate on the waitlist who was not recruited despite being on the merit list, allegedly due to irregularities in the hiring process. On April 3, the Supreme Court upheld the Calcutta High Court's April 2024 order terminating the appointment of about 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff by West Bengal's School Service Commission. The bench passed the order after observing that the recruitment process was 'vitiated by manipulation and fraud'. The top court on April 17 permitted 'untainted' teachers to be retained until the end of the academic year or until fresh appointments are made, whichever is earlier. However, it did not grant relief to Group C and Group D employees, or non-teaching staff, whose appointments were also cancelled. In response, the state government had announced in April that the sacked non-teaching staff would receive a monthly allowance until the Supreme Court delivered a verdict on review petitions filed by it, The Hindu reported. During the hearing on Monday, the High Court questioned how the state government was paying a monthly allowance of Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 to the sacked non-teaching employees for 'sitting at home'. 'Thousands of [aspirants] remain unemployed but those whose appointments were cancelled are being paid to sit at home?' Sinha was quoted as saying by Live Law. Advocate General Kishore Dutta, representing the state government, said that the amount was being disbursed in line with a government policy that cannot be disregarded. The High Court noted that the money could not be given in a hurry as there were ' some protocols ' that had to be followed, The Indian Express reported. Sinha also questioned the state government about whether there was any similar scheme for candidates who did not get jobs because of the irregularities in the recruitment process, The Hindu reported. Dutta said that the allowance was 'being given purely on humanitarian grounds ' after the dismissed staff faced a ' sudden loss of livelihood '. He also highlighted that the scheme was 'temporary' and would end once the Supreme Court decided on the matter. In April 2024, the High Court had passed its direction on the termination of the appointments based on the findings of a re-evaluation of the Optical Mark Recognition sheets from the 2016 recruitment examination in the case. The re-evaluation found that the selected teachers had been recruited against blank Optical Mark Recognition sheets.
India Gazette
09-06-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
West Bengal: Sacked teachers head to Delhi to attend Supreme Court hearing
New Delhi [India], June 9 (ANI): A delegation of sacked teachers from West Bengal left for New Delhi on Monday to attend the upcoming Supreme Court hearing and to seek nationwide political support for their demands. The group also announced an assembly campaign on June 16, warning of a protest if their issues remained unresolved. From the Kolkata airport, Suman Biswas, one of the key faces of the protest, said, 'By going to Delhi, we will try to draw the attention of the Prime Minister, President and leaders of various national parties towards our problems.' The move came after West Bengal teaching and non-teaching staff lost jobs in the wake of the Supreme Court verdict on April 3 that upheld a prior Calcutta High Court decision to annul recruitments made through the 2016 recruitment conducted by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) Around 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff in West Bengal lost their jobs because of alleged corruption in various examinations conducted by the state's School Service Commission. The bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar found that the West Bengal SSC's selection process was based on large-scale manipulations and fraud, and ordered the TMC government to initiate a fresh selection process. A section of the teachers are planning to file a review petition as well as to meet President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister, along with other MPs and leading politicians, with an appeal for reinstatement. They also called for a 'Bidhan Sabha Aviyan' on June 16, demanding the release of the mirror image of their Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets to identify the genuine candidates. Earlier on April 3, the Supreme Court upheld the Calcutta High Court's decision to quash the recruitment of more than 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff by the WBSSC in 2016 for the state-run and aided schools. The top court's verdict came on a petition filed by the West Bengal government that challenged an April 2022 order of the Calcutta High Court. (ANI)
