Calcutta High Court pulls up WBBSE for faulty recruitment

Kolkata: A Day after Calcutta High Court stopped the salary of the 25 Group D staff on the ground of alleged foul play over appointment by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) based on "recommendations" of the West Bengal Central School Service (WBSSC), the court was surprised to hear that the commission was not aware of the recruitment of these people.

Accepting the affidavit filed by the WBSSC, justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay asked WBBSE to file an affidavit on Monday detailing out their duties and responsibilities in the appointment process and specifying the recommendations made by the WBSSC. The angry court also asked the President of WBBSE to keep all the documents including the recommendation letters and other documents in his custody so that if an investigation order is given, all the documents can be examined.

Incidentally, in 2016, the state recommended for the recruitment of about 13,000 fourth class in different schools of the state and accordingly the WBSSC conducted examinations and interviews periodically and a panel was formed. The term of that panel ended in 2019. There was widespread allegation that the commission made lots of irregular recruitment - not less than 500 - even after the expiry of the panel. There were allegations that recruitment has been made from the regional office of the commission.

A case was filed in the High Court against the appointment of 25 of them and it came up in a single bench of Justice Gangopadhyay on Tuesday. Initially, the judge thought that there was confusion in the recommendation of that appointment. "Enough is enough," he told the commission. This means that the commission has no control over the regional office. I do not want another scandal - Gangopadhyay had said and the commission was asked to file the affidavit.

The Court on Wednesday not only stopped the salary of the alleged 25 Group D staff but also said that the court will do everything necessary to unearth the truth. If needed the SSC office will be cordoned off by CISF for the investigation. The commission on Thursday admitted that they had no clue about the recruitment and pleaded for a judicial enquiry into the matter. The court, however, didn't give any enquiry order but asked the WBSSE to come up with an affidavit on Monday.

State Education minister Bratya Basu said, "I was not the education minister in 2016 and so don't know what had happened but we have instructed the commission and the Board to provide all the documents asked by the court. We also want the truth to come out".