Bengal primary jobs scam appeal hearing from May 7, High Court orders all parties to submit papers

The Calcutta High Court will begin hearing the West Bengal government's appeal against the cancellation of 32,000 primary school teacher appointments from May 7. The matter will be heard by a division bench led by Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty, after Justice Soumen Sen, who was initially handling the case, recused himself citing personal reasons. Following this, Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam assigned the case to Justice Chakraborty's bench. On Monday, the case was mentioned before the new bench, and the court directed all parties to submit their complete set of documents, referred to as paper books, by May 7.

The appointments were made in 2016 based on the 2014 Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) conducted in West Bengal. Later, allegations of corruption in the recruitment process surfaced, and in May 2023, then Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay ordered the cancellation of 32,000 such appointments. The West Bengal government subsequently challenged the cancellation order before a division bench of the High Court, which is now set to hear the matter. The court also clarified that lawyers with similar arguments must present their submissions collectively through a single representative, citing the need to avoid repetition and save judicial time.

Earlier, the Calcutta High Court had cancelled the 2016 SSC panel, leading to the termination of 25,752 candidates’ jobs, a decision later upheld by the Supreme Court. The developments surrounding the current primary school recruitment case are being closely watched as the hearing on the state's appeal is set to begin, potentially impacting thousands of candidates across West Bengal.