Supreme Court Cancels CBI Probe in Bengal Teacher Recruitment Case, Major Relief for Mamata Govt

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): The West Bengal government has received a major relief from the Supreme Court in the teacher recruitment case. The Supreme Court has canceled the order given by the High Court for a CBI investigation. In its decision, the Court stated that before ordering a CBI inquiry, the High Court should have considered adequate facts and solid grounds, which was clearly not done in this case. The Supreme Court also stated that flaws in a process cannot be the basis for an investigation unless solid criminal evidence is presented.

Earlier, on April 3, the top court had declared the appointment of 25,753 teachers and staff in government and aided schools in Bengal invalid. The Court had described the entire selection process as flawed and tainted. These employees had been selected through a recruitment campaign by the State School Service Commission in 2016.

What’s the full story?

In 2016, 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff were appointed under a recruitment process conducted by the State School Service Commission (SSC) of West Bengal. Later, allegations arose that many of these appointments were made through scams and corruption. Investigations revealed that many ineligible candidates were given jobs, while qualified candidates from the merit list were left out. Acting on these allegations, the Calcutta High Court termed the recruitment process as "tainted" and ordered a CBI investigation in April 2023.