Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the Calcutta High Court in his verdict on the termination of the services of 36,000 primary teachers in state-run schools of West Bengal, observed that former education minister Partha Chatterjee and Trinamool Congress legislator Manik Bhattacharya had used a network of agents to sell teaching jobs against money.
In his verdict on Friday, Justice Gangopadhyay observed that the role of Bhattacharya, who is also the former president of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) and his associates in the board, in the entire case was somewhat like the office-bearer of a local club. According to him, the investigation by the Enforcement Directorate has proved that these jobs were sold to those who could pay money for them.
Justice Gangopadhyay observed in his judgment that blatant breaking of rules and norms was evident in the entire recruitment process, where ineligible candidates were granted higher marks in the interview part.
According to him, candidates scoring extremely low marks in secondary and higher secondary examinations were even granted nine out of 10 marks in the interview process. In most cases, Justice Gangopadhyay observed that the aptitude tests were not even conducted.
He also said that many examiners were not even aware of the system of aptitude tests which carries separate marks. He also observed in the judgment that he hopes that more facts about the alleged recruitment scam in state-run schools of West Bengal will surface in due course of the investigation.
On Friday while terminating the services of 36,000 of 42,500 primary teachers recruited in 2016, Justice Gangopadhyay observed that none of these 36,000 teachers had proper training for getting recruited as primary teachers and they got recruited without appearing for the compulsory aptitude tests.
However, Justice Gangopadhyay ordered that these 36,000 primary teachers will be able to attend their respective schools for the next four months and during that period they will be entitled to the salary of para-teachers instead of that of regular teachers.
If any candidate among these 36,000 completes the requisite training in the interim period, he/she will be eligible for appearing for examinations in the next recruitment phase.
Justice Gangopadhyay also directed the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) to fill up the vacant posts arising out of the termination of services.
Current WBBPE president Gautam Pal has said that the order will be challenged by the board at the appropriate forum.
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