SC to hear pleas against invalidation of Bengal teacher positions on Jan 15

The Supreme Court will hear pleas challenging a Calcutta High Court order invalidating the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff in government and aided schools in West Bengal on January 15.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and K V Viswanathan said at the outset on Tuesday that there are two options before it -- either a three-judge bench re-hears the case all over again or it be listed it before a two-judge bench that began hearing final arguments on December 19, the last date of hearing.

Taking note of the submissions of lawyers, the CJI said the matter will be heard by a two-judge bench comprising him and Justice Kumar at 2 pm on January 15.

There are 124 petitions, including the one filed by the state government, pending in the top court.

The bench had earlier issued a slew of procedural directions and appointed four lawyers as nodal counsel while asking them to file a common compilation in electronic form after getting details from the lawyers of various parties.

It appointed lawyers Astha Sharma, who represents the state government, as well as Shalini Kaul, Partha Chatterjee and Shekhar Kumar as nodal counsel.

On May 7 last year, the apex court granted major relief to teachers and non-teaching staff of West Bengal whose services were invalidated by the high court on grounds of irregularities in the appointment process. It, however, permitted the CBI to continue with its probe and said it may even investigate members of the state cabinet if needed.

While granting relief on the pleas, the bench asked the CBI to not take any precipitative action like arrest of a suspect during its investigation.

The top court, however, made it clear that the state's teachers and non-teaching staff whose appointments were cancelled by the high court would have to refund the salaries and other emoluments if it reached the conclusion that their recruitment was illegal.

The top court also termed the alleged recruitment scam "systemic fraud" and said the state authorities were duty-bound to maintain the digitised records pertaining to the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff.

Besides cancelling the appointments, the Calcutta High Court also directed the CBI to probe the appointment process and submit a report in three months.

Over 23 lakh candidates had appeared for the State Level Selection Test (SLST)-2016 for 24,640 vacant posts. A total of 25,753 appointment letters were issued.