Bengal Jobs Scam
Mamata Banerjee announces fresh teacher recruitment notification amid job losers' protests
Kolkata/IBNS: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday announced the notification for fresh recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff amid the job losers' protests against the state government, media reports said.
Mamata announced the notification will be issued by May 31, the deadline fixed by the top court.
The aspirants can apply online from June 16 to July 14, the Chief Minister announced and added that the panel will be published on November 15.
The counselling will commence on November 20.
Banerjee announced the advertisement will be given for recruitment to 24,203 vacant posts.
The government has created additional vacant posts which will also be filled up through this examination.
The Chief Minister said recruitment to 11,517 additional vacant posts of teachers for clasess 9 and 10 and 6,912 for classes 11 and 12 will be completed. 571 Group C and another 1,000 Group D additional posts will also be up for grabs.
The job losers, who are no longer eligible for examination as per age criteria, will be allowed in the recruitment process with a relaxation.
Meanwhile, Mamata said the Supreme Court is yet to take up the petition seeking a review of the massive order that struck down the entire 2016 recruitment panel.
The Chief Minister mentioned that she was compelled to announce the fresh recruitment process to follow the court order.
On April 17, the Supreme Court had allowed West Bengal government teachers, who have not been identified as "tainted" in the School Service Commission (SSC) scam, to continue working till fresh appointments.
The deadline to complete the recruitment process has been set as December 31.
However, the SSC is yet to completely segregate the lists of "tainted" and "untainted" candidates who were recruited in 2016.
Calcutta HC cancels 2016 recruitments
In a massive judgement, the Supreme Court in April cancelled appointments of nearly 26,000 teaching and non-teaching staff by the SSC upholding the Calcutta High Court's order.
The top court passed the order after the SSC failed to provide two separate lists of deserving and undeserving candidates after the government faced corruption allegations in the recruitment process.
A top court bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar said the selection process was "vitiated and tainted by fraud".
In April 2024, the Calcutta High Court had cancelled recruitment of nearly 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff in government-sponsored and government-aided schools, dismissing the entire 2016 teacher recruitment panel.
The panel was constituted by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC).
Erstwhile state education minister Partha Chatterjee, former primary education board president and Trinamool MLA Manik Bhattacharya, youth leader Kuntal Ghosh are among the people who were arrested so far in connection with the scam.
Former Calcutta High Court judge and now a BJP MP, Abhijit Ganguly had ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged irregularities in the recruitment process.
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