Kolkata, Dec 1 (IANS) The Calcutta High Court’s single-judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha will be hearing a crucial case on the alleged and gross irregularities in the fresh recruitment of higher secondary teachers in the state-run schools of West Bengal.

During the hearing on Monday, the state government is expected to give its explanations to the court on the basis on which the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) determined the “untainted” teachers from the commission’s 2016 panel, which would be deemed eligible for participation in the fresh recruitment of secondary and higher secondary teachers this year.

During the last hearing in the matter on November 28, Justice Sinha questioned the basis of determining “untainted” teachers from the 2016 panel and sought an explanation from the state government and the commission on this count.

Justice Sinha also raised the critical question on the basis on which WBSSC will determine which candidates will be eligible for the 10-mark weightage criterion for past teaching experience.

She also observed that, apparently, it seemed that several eligible candidates were deprived of participating in the recruitment process because of new rules introduced for fresh hiring.

The new recruitment is happening to fill up the vacancies of teachers in state-run after a division bench of the Supreme Court, in April this year, cancelled the WBSSC’s entire 2016 panel of around 26,000 school jobs and ordered that while “untainted” teachers would be allowed to participate in the fresh recruitment process in 2025, under no circumstance “tainted” teachers, who have been proven beyond doubt of getting teaching jobs paying money should be allowed to participate in the fresh recruitment process.

Accordingly, in September this year, the WBSSC conducted written examinations separately for fresh recruitment for secondary and higher secondary teachers, and recently, the results of both the written examinations were declared.

However, after lists of candidates qualifying for the interview in case of higher secondary teachers’ recruitment were published, a petition was filed at the single-judge bench of Justice Sinha, alleging that some “tainted” teachers from the 2016 panel have qualified for the interview.

The petitioner alleged that this was in clear violation of the apex court’s April order barring “tainted” teachers from participating in the fresh recruitment process.

–IANS

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