The SC ordered that the ad interim protection would continue provided that any person found to have been appointed illegally and has continued as a consequence of the top court’s order shall undertake to refund the salary drawn by them if the case is eventually decided against them.
During the resumed hearing on Tuesday, the bench underlined the need to distinguish between valid and invalid recruitments as several candidates who secured positions based on merit now face job loss. The bench reprimanded the West Bengal government calling it “nothing but a systemic fraud“.
It observed: “The public job is so scarce…. Nothing remains if the faith of the public goes. This is systemic fraud. Public jobs are extremely scarce today and are looked at for social mobility. What remains in the system if their appointments are also maligned? People will lose faith, how do you countenance this?”
The SC had last week restrained the CBI from taking any precipitative action against the officials of the West Bengal government involved in the case. At the last hearing, the SC had asked if the matter could be segregated. The bench had observed that taking away about 24,000 appointments is a “serious thing” but the beneficiaries of the fraud ought to be identified.The West Bengal government had earlier this month petitioned the SC against the Calcutta High Court’s decision to cancel about 24,000 appointments of teaching and non-teaching staff made in 2016 by the WBSSC. While holding the recruitment invalid, the HC had last month ordered the candidates to return the salaries they received after being illegally recruited.Aggrieved by the order, the state government, in its appeal, alleged that the HC on the basis of oral submissions and in absence of any affidavit on record had arbitrarily cancelled the appointments. The appeal read that the same was done in “utter disregard” of the fact that it will lead to a huge vacuum in the schools.
Source link
