WBSSC recruitment case: Hurdles emerge as process begins to remove ‘tainted’ names from salary portal

Kolkata, April 26 As the process to remove "tainted" names from the salary portal for teaching and non-teaching staff in state-run schools across West Bengal gets underway, district inspectors of schools are encountering initial difficulties, particularly in tracing the current postings of several teaching staff.

Sources in the state education department said that some secondary and higher secondary teachers had taken mutual transfers to other institutions, including junior high schools. However, records of these transfers have not yet been updated, making it challenging for district inspectors to locate these individuals.

Despite the hurdles, a senior official of the state education department said that staff at the district inspectors’ offices are working diligently to identify such candidates.

Correspondences are being sent across districts to verify if any of the concerned individuals have transferred to other schools or junior high schools.

Notably, even after the salary portal was updated on April 10, it continued to show the names of 25,753 staff whose appointments were terminated following a Supreme Court division bench order on April 3.

This situation has sparked considerable unrest. A contempt-of-court petition has been filed at the Calcutta High Court, accusing the West Bengal government and the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) of violating the Supreme Court’s directive by retaining "tainted" candidates on the payroll.

Meanwhile, "genuine" candidates have launched agitations, demanding the immediate publication of segregated lists of "genuine" and "tainted" candidates, and prompt removal of those whose appointments were secured through corrupt means.

Earlier this month, a Supreme Court division bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar upheld a Calcutta High Court order that annulled the entire 2016 WBSSC recruitment panel of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching posts.

The apex court agreed with the High Court’s observation that the panel had to be scrapped altogether due to the failure of the state government and WBSSC to distinguish "genuine" candidates from those who allegedly paid money to secure jobs.

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