SC scraps appointment of 25k Bengal teachers

The Supreme Court on Thursday scrapped the appointment of nearly 26,000 teachers and staffers in state-aided schools in West Bengal after finding the selection process in 2016 tainted with large-scale fraud and manipulation, dealing a blow to the ruling Trinamool Congress a year before assembly elections.

- Abraham Thomas

NEW DELHI:

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar upheld a Calcutta high court verdict of April 22, 2024, annulling the appointments, and said the tainted candidates should refund their "salaries/payments received". "This is a case wherein the entire selection process has been vitiated and tainted beyond resolution. Manipulations and frauds on a large scale, coupled with the attempted cover-up, have dented the selection process beyond repair and partial redemption. The credibility and legitimacy of the selection are denuded," said the judgment.