A division bench of the Calcutta HC overturned a single-bench order that had ended the appointments of 32,000 primary teachers linked to the cash-for-jobs scam. The teachers hired through the 2014 Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) by the West Bengal Board of Primary Education.
Calcutta HC Restores 32,000 Teachers’ Appointments
The Calcutta High Court said that not all appointments shown to irregular. It recognized the serious negative effect that ending employment after nine years would have on the teachers and their families. The bench, led by Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty, said it was not inclined to uphold the single-bench order since irregularities had not been proven in all the recruitments.
The bench ruled, “There must have been a possibility of systemic malice; assessment of data doesn’t indicate the same. A group of unsuccessful candidates cannot allowed to harm the entire system. A job taken away after nine years of service would cause immense difficulty,” as reported by Live Law.
Commission found irregularities in appointments earlier
Investigations led by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), under the court’s direction, found 264 appointments with irregularities, and another 96 teachers later examined. Based on this, the court decided that canceling the entire selection process would not be fair.
The previous order from the single judge pointed to the lack of an aptitude test, the involvement of an external agency in the hiring process, and claims of jobs sold as reasons for canceling the appointments.
The controversy began when candidates filed petitions alleging large-scale irregularities, including cash-for-jobs in the 2014 recruitment. The case moved to the division bench after an initial hearing stopped due to a judge’s recusal, with formal hearings starting in April 2025.
Read also: Class 10 Bengal Student Dies By Suicide after AI-generated Nude Images Gone Viral