Massive blow to Mamata: SC upholds Calcutta HC's decision to quash 25k staff appointments, says 'entire process tainted beyond repair'

The Supreme Court has upheld the Calcutta High Court's ruling to nullify nearly 25,000 appointments made by the West Bengal School Selection Commission (SSC) in 2016. This decision follows the High Court's findings that the recruitment process was "vitiated by fraud and was tainted beyond repair."

The bench, led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, concluded that the pervasive manipulation rendered the selection process illegitimate.

"In our opinion, this is the case where the entire selection process is vitiated and tainted beyond resolution. Manipulation and fraud on a large scale, coupled with the intention to cover up have tainted the selection process beyond repair. Their legitimacy and credibility of the selection process are denuded," CJI Khanna was quoted as saying by LiveLaw. 

The top court further said that the affected candidates shall refund any salaries and payments they received, as the appointments were deemed products of deception. The Supreme Court recognised the High Court's rationale for cancelling the appointments en masse, citing an "intention to cover up" and significant fraud.

"For candidates who have been specifically found to be tainted, their entire selection process has been rightly declared null and void due to egregious violations which violate Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. As such, the appointments of these candidates have been cancelled," the top court stated. 

The court further mentioned that the candidates who are already employed do not have to refund the payments returned but their appointments will be cancelled. The SSC's original data handling has come under scrutiny, with claims that data retrieved from Bansal was "highly suspect."

The SSC's destruction of original OMR sheets after a year added to concerns over the credibility of scanned records. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has unveiled discrepancies in results, suggesting score manipulation.

The Supreme Court also permitted the CBI to continue its investigation but restricts actions from being coercive. Senior advocates for SSC argued that invalidating the entire recruitment process could result in a staffing shortage, affecting approximately 25,000 positions in state schools.

They contended that discrepancies between recommendations and appointments occurred due to candidates declining job offers, prompting SSC to consider alternate recommendations.

"The written marks awarded to candidates as available on the server of the commission had been increased to qualify underserving candidates. This mismatch establishes that manipulation in marks of written examination in the case of many candidates was resorted to and such candidates were identified." the CBI report stated.

The West Bengal government highlighted potential adverse impacts, as many affected candidates might now exceed the permissible age for appointment.

They criticised the High Court's reliance on oral arguments without substantial affidavit support, arguing that segregating fraudulent cases from legitimate appointments would have been more appropriate.