SC halts CBI probe against govt officials

Asks if untainted appointments can be segregated

Halting a CBI probe against Bengal government officials, the Supreme Court, on Monday (April 29), directed to check the feasibility of isolating untainted appointments from the vast pool of over 25,000 appointments made by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) in 2016. The directive comes in response to the Calcutta High Court’s ruling to nullify all appointments, citing ‘fraud’ as the basis.

The Bench — comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, Justice J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra — while hearing petitions filed by the Bengal government, the state SSC and certain affected employees challenging the April 22 judgment of the Calcutta High Court, also declined the petitioners’ request for an immediate stay on the High Court’s directive to annul the appointments at the present juncture, noting that the matter will be addressed during the next hearing on Monday.

The Calcutta High Court had cancelled the appointments of 25,753 candidates, which includes both teaching and non-teaching staff appointed in 2016.

The Apex Court postponed the petitions for further consideration until next Monday.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court halted the High Court’s instruction for the CBI to conduct additional investigations into individuals associated with the state government’s approval of supernumerary positions for unlawful appointments, including the potential for custodial interrogation if required.

While understanding the seriousness of about 25,000 persons losing jobs, the Court asked the state if the matter could be segregated.

“Look at how it’s done… OMR sheet completely destroyed, mirror images not

there, people not in the panel are recruited…this is a complete fraud,” Chief Justice of India Chandrachud, reportedly, observed.

Reacting to the order by the Supreme Court, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Kunal Ghosh on X stated that the Opposition, including Left party lawyers, are saying that they want people to get jobs but going to court and seeking cancellation of the entire panel.

“@AITCofficial wants to correct the flaw and is trying to ensure that employment is given to deserving candidates. The opposition wants to politicise everything,” he said.

The statistical report submitted by SSC in Calcutta High Court in terms of the four selection processes stated that out of 11,610 recommendations for IX-X level