FOLLOWING THE SUPREME COURT’S VERDICT on April 3, over 25,000 teaching and non-teaching staff in West Bengal have found themselves out of their jobs in the blink of an eye. The top Court upheld the decision of the Calcutta High Court to cancel the appointments of the 2016 recruitment panel of the West Bengal State Selection Commission (‘WBSSC’).
Over 19,000 candidates were in the untainted category, while over 6,000 candidates got the job through manipulation and fraud. The Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar noted that irregularities in the selection process “were systemic enough to undermine the sanctity of the process.”
“The Chief Justice of India has brought me to the streets,” she said, “I have a loan to pay. Now that I am jobless, how can I pay it back?”
“This is the case where the entire selection process is vitiated and tainted beyond resolution,” CJI Khanna stated as he pronounced the verdict on Thursday, “Manipulation and fraud on a large scale, coupled with the intention to cover up, have tainted the selection process beyond repair. The legitimacy and credibility of the selection process are denuded.”
On April 22, 2024, the Calcutta High Court had invalidated the entire recruitment panel across government and government-aided schools.
Following the verdict, uncertainty prevails on the future of affected teachers on what they would be able to do and how they would sustain their living.
One who faces the wrath
Sharmishta Bar taught history from classes 9 to 10 at Kulti Government Refugee Colony Girls High School in Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district. After the Court’s verdict, her life has to come to a stop, “I am in trauma now that I do not have a job.”
Bar was on the list of untainted candidates. She stated that the ruling was a punishment for her because she did not “deserve this after having all the qualifications required.” Bar is also a mother to a one-and-a-half year old, and the sole breadwinner of her family. Her husband is currently unemployed.
“The Chief Justice of India has brought me to the streets,” she said, “I have a loan to pay. Now that I am jobless, how can I pay it back?”
Sharmishtha seemed to bear significant skepticism towards the judicial system. “Judges wear a blindfold before delivering judgements,” she said, “My only fault is that I gave the exam in 2016. If there was a 'systemic failure’, then punish the system, not us. It’s only us (the untainted teachers) who are being punished.”
The verdict
The Supreme Court has asked the WBSSC to conduct fresh recruitment within three months. Candidates who left their previous government jobs for SSC positions could, however, apply for their previous roles. The Court added that already appointed candidates need not return their salaries, but the ones who were appointed after the expiry of the recruitment period and beyond the officially sanctioned vacancies will have to return all their salaries along with a 12 percent interest.
Teachers who lost their jobs will be able to apply for the fresh process and they will be given age relaxations for the same.
“I have a twelve-year-old son and all his responsibilities are on me, but now I have no clue how to handle him,” Ghosh told The Leaflet
The lone exception to the judgement
Soma Das got her job in 2022 after the Calcutta High Court ‘requested’ the state government to employ her on “humanitarian grounds” as she was diagnosed with cancer. Soma, who qualified for the exam, had her name on the merit list but was allegedly not given the job. In 2022, the WBSSC accepted the High Court’s request and posted her in Madhura High School in Nalhati-1 block of Birbhum district.
Soma is also the only candidate that the Supreme Court has particularly excepted from the effects of the decision. The judgement notes,
“While we will not interfere with [the High Court’s decision to allow Soma to retain her job on ‘humanitarian grounds’], we make it clear that other differently abled candidates will not be entitled to the same benefit, as it would contradict legal principles and the rule of law.”
"I never wanted others to lose their jobs. This verdict is not acceptable to me as many others in the entire panel were qualified,” Soma said in an interview to The Week.
Speaking to The Leaflet, Sharmishtha also pointed out that the exclusion of a single candidate while setting aside the livelihoods of over 25,000 others was arbitrary, “Where am I supposed to go if I get cancer tomorrow? Since I do not have the disease, I do not have the job.”
Plight of teachers facing job loss
Subhra Ghosh, a Bengali teacher in Purba Bardhaman district’s Jabagram Maharani Kashiswari Institution, has also been on the same recruitment panel, and now she is no longer a government school teacher after the Supreme Court’s ruling. Ghosh is also a single mother.
“I have a twelve-year-old son and all his responsibilities are on me, but now I have no clue how to handle him,” Ghosh told The Leaflet, also suggesting that the SSC could have taken a step to segregate the tainted and untainted candidates. “If that happened, maybe we wouldn’t have to see such a day,” she added.
In Hooghly’s Dhaniakhali, Aditi Kundu, who taught life sciences to class 9 and 10 students and environmental science to class 5 to 8 in Sanktia High School, in Raina block of Purba Bardhaman district, said that she had become hopeless after losing the job. Kundu belongs to a middle-class family. Kundu, like many others, was on duty at school the moment news of the verdict came, nullifying the jobs of over 25,000 candidates.
She was also on the list of untainted candidates. “How can I sit for an exam at this age? Everything in life should be done at an appropriate time,” she said “A child starts going to school at a certain age. Similarly, for me, at this age, starting all over again seems difficult.”
“I don’t know who I should blame this on - the state government and WBSSC’s negligence to provide a properly segregated list, or the Chief Justice of India’s verdict”
Kundu is still processing what this verdict means for her, “I don’t know who I should blame this on - the state government and WBSSC’s negligence to provide a properly segregated list, or the Chief Justice of India’s verdict which has taken our means of livelihood.”
She added that she is worried about her father, who suffers from heart disease and has a pacemaker in place, and how she would manage everything and take up the responsibilities of her parents at this age. She urged the West Bengal state government to take some action for the untainted teaching and non-teaching staff on “humanitarian grounds”.
Kundu alleged that the Supreme Court did not punish the people who were involved in the fraud, and instead only made fairly recruited teachers suffer. “We have been made the scapegoats,” she remarked.
How were the OMR Sheets scanned?
The Central Bureau of Investigation (‘CBI’) report stated that the WBSSC had tasked a private company named Nysa Communications Private Limited for the scanning and evaluation of the OMR sheets. However, Nysa sub-delegated the task to another entity, Data Scantech Solutions.
As per the CBI report, SSC gave all the answer keys to Nysa Communications. In September 2022, during the course of the investigation, the CBI recovered three hard disks from the former Nysa employee, Pankaj Bansal. The CBI in its report disclosed that there were mismatches in the results when the Commission’s servers were tallied with the server of Bansal.
"The written marks awarded to candidates as available on the server of the commission had been increased to qualify underserving candidates. This mismatch establishes that manipulation in marks of written examination in the case of many candidates was resorted to, and such candidates were identified," the CBI report stated.
Apurba Roy, another teacher from Sanktia High School, said that he expected the top Court to reevaluate the answer sheets and then give the verdict. “I have my answer sheet, my marks and my rank, but still I lost my job,” he added. He was hoping that the Supreme Court’s judgment would come in his favour.
Roy, who teaches history from classes 9 to 12, has also been selected in the same recruitment panel which now stands invalidated. He was selected back in 2019 during the first counselling. He alleges that the WBSSC did not send a proper list of untainted candidates because of which today the panel stands cancelled.
The top Court has permitted the CBI to continue the probe against the officials who were involved in the scam.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her discontent over the judgment. “I have the highest regard for the judiciary, but I cannot accept this judgment,” she said in a press conference in Kolkata on April . She also alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Union government were targeting the education system of the state. Banerjee stated that she will meet all affected people on April 7.
The chief minister also slammed the former judge of Calcutta High Court, Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who is now a BJP Member of Parliament. She alleged that Gangopadhyay had influenced the proceedings during his time in Calcutta High Court. The case was first heard by him during his tenure as a judge.
Union Minister and West Bengal BJP President Sukanta Majumdar has stated that the Trinamool Congress and Banerjee were responsible for the loss of jobs. Meanwhile, the Leader of Opposition of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari has called for Banerjee’s resignation.