Calcutta HC cancels bengal teacher recruitment panel, 24,000 jobs axed

• Calcutta High Court cancels 2016 teacher recruitment panel over alleged school jobs scam
• Approximately 24,000 teaching positions revoked as a result of the ruling
• Justices mandate reimbursement of salaries from teachers recruited under suspicious circumstances

Calcutta High Court made a decisive ruling on Monday, invalidating the 2016 teacher recruitment panel established by the Bengal commission amidst allegations of a school jobs scam. This action results in the termination of approximately 24,000 teaching positions. Justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi, constituting the division bench, mandated that those teachers appointed under dubious circumstances, notably through submission of blank OMR sheets, must reimburse their salaries within a four-week timeframe with a 12% interest. The responsibility of salary retrieval has been entrusted to the district magistrate.

The nullified recruitment panel encompasses all appointments of teaching and non-teaching personnel, recruited via the WBSC entrance examination in 2016, across various state-government-sponsored and aided schools in Bengal. This legal intervention by the High Court underscores a significant blow to the education sector in Bengal, highlighting the grave repercussions of fraudulent practices within the recruitment process.