Bengal SSC to soon initiate fresh job drive in vacant school posts

Kolkata: The West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) on Friday said it would abide by the Supreme Court directive and soon initiate the process of conducting fresh exams of all teaching and non teaching candidates, who took part in the now-invalidated 2016 job recruitment exercise.

Speaking to reporters a day after the apex court annulled the appointments of 25,752 teachers and staffers in state-run and state-aided schools, WBSSC Chairman Siddhartha Majumdar said the commission, in view of the top court order, would seek legal advice on the eligibility of candidates who can take the fresh tests.

“About 26 lakh candidates had applied for the exams in 2016 and around 22 lakh appeared for the tests. Of them, some 1.41 lakh candidates were aspirants for Classes 9-10 and another about 1.5 lakh candidates sat for teachers’ recruitment in Classes 11-12.

“The rest were candidates for non-teaching posts. Although the Supreme Court has directed us to initiate the selection process for filling up the vacancies, we will need legal clarification on whether new candidates are also eligible to take part in the fresh exams,” Majumdar said.

The chairman, however, confirmed that given the large volume of candidates involved, the completion of the selection process within three months was unlikely.

“There is no mention of a three-month deadline in the court order. This is a long process and we are unlikely to finish it within three months,” Majumdar said.

“We will initiate the process of starting the fresh examination of 22 lakh candidates as soon as possible. We will also make our recommendations to the school education department, but cannot share any further details at this stage," he said.

While 12,905 working teachers in Classes 9 and 10 in state schools lost their jobs in the wake of the Supreme Court verdict, the number of job losers in Classes 11 and 12 stood at 5,712. The remaining among the nearly 26,000 affected employees are non-teaching staff in Groups C and D category.

In its judgment, the apex court pulled up the WBSSC, saying it "intentionally" covered up the lapses and illegalities in the appointment of the teachers and staffers, and upheld the Calcutta High Court's findings on illegalities in the selection process on 17 counts.

Asked about the commission’s alleged failure to separate the tainted from the deserving candidates before the Supreme Court that led to cancellation of appointments en-masse, Majumdar said, “We did submit those figures in the form of sworn affidavits. It’s a different matter, though, that we were unable to satisfy the court with our figures.”