The Supreme Courtroom questioned Bengal authorities why it had created supernumerary posts of lecturers (File)
New Delhi:
The Supreme Courtroom on Thursday questioned the West Bengal authorities why it had created supernumerary posts of lecturers and non-teaching employees as an alternative of removing individuals who had been allegedly appointed illegally. “Why did you create supernumerary posts? What was the aim of making that?” a bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar requested the West Bengal counsel.
Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, showing for the West Bengal authorities, knowledgeable the bench a couple of report by a committee appointed for a radical investigation into the choice course of.
The bench noticed the committee’s report and famous some irregularities.
Mr Dwivedi argued the committee discovered some irregularities however not as in depth because the CBI’s report.
“So, they discovered there have been irregularities dedicated. So, with a purpose to take care of that state of affairs, as an alternative of removing the individuals who’ve been appointed illegally, you say, okay create supernumerary posts?” requested the bench.
“Mr Dwivedi, inform me one factor, when you discover the irregularity dedicated, will you not throw them out first?” the CJI requested additional.
Mr Dwivedi mentioned the order had particularly talked about it was for the appointment of the wait-listed candidates.
“Right. The reason being this, that you do not need to throw out the contaminated candidates,” the CJI mentioned.
The highest court docket was listening to arguments on a batch of pleas difficult the Calcutta Excessive Courtroom’s April 22 resolution invalidating the appointment of 25,753 lecturers and non-teaching employees in state-run and state-aided colleges of West Bengal.
On Could 7, the highest court docket stayed the excessive court docket’s order over the appointments made by the state’s College Service Fee (SSC). The highest court docket, nonetheless, permitted the CBI to proceed with its probe into the matter.
In its Could 7 order, the Supreme Courtroom famous that on Could 19, 2022, the state authorities issued an order creating 6,861 supernumerary posts of lecturers and non-teaching employees to soak up the wait-listed candidates.
The highest court docket additional famous it was directed that appointment letters to such wait-listed candidates must be issued by way of the advice of the SSC topic to the result of the pending litigation earlier than the excessive court docket.
Through the listening to on Thursday, the bench requested, “Is the state of West Bengal supporting the proposition that it’s not attainable to segregate the contaminated from the untainted?” Mr Dwivedi nonetheless mentioned the state was supporting the segregation.
He argued the division bench of the excessive court docket “went too far forward” and handed a “blanket course” that the CBI ought to examine all people and undertake custodial interrogation, if vital.
The bench additionally questioned why the unique OMR sheets weren’t accessible.
“The unique paper is the OMR sheet. That’s the main proof. If any manipulation is finished on the primary proof or the primary paper, it is going to be solely seen within the OMR sheets,” it mentioned.
“The difficulty could be, as a result of the originals are usually not accessible, so there is no such thing as a approach we are able to authenticate whether or not the unique OMR sheets had been equivalent to the scanned OMR sheets which can be found on the server,” the bench mentioned.
The highest court docket requested the CBI’s counsel whether or not the probe company was capable of verify the date on which the OMR information was captured.
“One factor may be very unusual that people who find themselves not even really helpful and who haven’t certified… they had been issued letters,” the bench noticed, “it was a really severe factor”.
Through the day-long listening to, the bench heard submissions from senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Shyam Divan, Jaideep Gupta, Sanjay Hegde and others.
The listening to would proceed in January, 2025.
On Could 7, the highest court docket had mentioned the CBI’s investigation, which was ordered by the excessive court docket, would proceed however no coercive steps could be taken.
The highest court docket, nonetheless, had made it clear that the lecturers and non-teaching employees of the state, whose appointments had been cancelled by the excessive court docket, must refund their salaries and different emoluments if their recruitment was discovered unlawful.
Over 23 lakh candidates had appeared for the state-level choice test-2016 for twenty-four,640 vacant posts. A complete of 25,753 appointment letters had been issued towards 24,640 vacancies.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)