Thousands of those employed in the West Bengal government schools who allegedly got their jobs using illegal means are likely to be terminated in the next few months. While the recruitment scam has rocked the State politics for the past several months, it is for the first time that those working in State-run schools are likely to lose their job.
The chairperson of West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) Siddhartha Majumdar said that the commission had filed an affidavit on February 8 before Justice Biswajit Basu of the Calcutta High Court about those who got jobs as teachers using illegal means. According to the commission, the marks obtained in the optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets varied from those in the central server of the commission. Mr. Majumdar said that the process of termination as per laws of the commission would start next week.
In another development, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay has directed the WBSSC to prepare by Friday afternoon a final list of candidates in Group C and D category who have jobs using “unfair means”. He observed that those who had been associated with “illegal activities” for so long could not be kept in service even for a single day. The number of candidates in the category was 2820.
Justice Ganguly had in the past directed termination of about 100 such candidates but the number in this case is expected to be above 3,000. Investigations by agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate have so far revealed an elaborate network where candidates paid money through touts and then officials of the State Education Department for securing jobs. The marks obtained by the candidates were altered in the server of the WBSSC to help them make it to the merit list.
Former State Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and half a dozen officials of the School Education Department, including MLA Manik Bhattacharya, are behind bars for their alleged role in the scam. The State government was earlier not in favour of terminating those who got jobs using unfair means. Political observers say that with over 3,000 people getting terminated will have social and political implications.
On Thursday, job aspirants who have been protesting in the city for the past several months took out a rally and threatened to intensify protests if they are not given appointment.
