“We all welcome judgement of Supreme Court”: Siliguri Mayor on West Bengal teachers recruitment case

Siliguri (West Bengal) [India], May 8 (ANI): Siliguri Mayor Goutam Deb welcomed the judgement of the Supreme Court’s stay on a Calcutta High Court order cancelling the appointment of 26,000 teachers, the matter is now posted to July 16 by the top court.

Siliguri Mayor Goutam Deb said, “We all welcome the judgement of the Supreme Court. At present, all the operative orders have been stayed by the Supreme Court. The CJI and his bench have stayed the proceedings and stayed the cancellations of the appointments of 26,000 teachers till July 16. Everybody is welcoming the decision. For 19,000-20,000 students who have studied hard and qualified should not be punished like this so, it has been challenged at the upper forum.

A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra however asked the CBI not to take any coercive action against teachers or officials.

Deb further said that the apex court has asserted that those persons who have been appointed fraudulently by some means or other, should be barred and not in a position to continue the service.

“The bench of CJI has stayed the proceedings at present till 16th July. Our government is cooperating with the CBI but they are moving at the insistence of the ruling party and taking action at the insistence of some of the leaders of the ruling party. That is unfortunate,” he further added.

The top court heard a batch of petitions challenging the Calcutta High Court’s April 22 decision that invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff in State-run and state-aided schools of West Bengal.

Earlier, the Supreme Court allowed the CBI to continue its investigation into the West Bengal teacher recruitment scam case. However, it will not take any coercive steps against any official or candidate.

The bench said it would hear the case next on July 16. During the hearing, the bench termed the alleged recruitment scam in West Bengal “systemic fraud”.

It noted that the State of West Bengal has no data to prove the sanctity of these tests. It said authorities were duty-bound to maintain the digitised records pertaining to the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff.

Meanwhile, Siliguri Mayor Goutam Deb and others paid tribute to Rabindranath Tagore, at Baghajatin Park, on his birth anniversary today.