KOLAKATA: A division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Thursday upheld the order debarring tainted candidates in the 2016 recruitment process from taking the upcoming examination to be conducted by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), at the directions of the Supreme Court order.
After hearing the West Bengal Government’s appeal petition and other petitions related to the case on Wednesday and Thursday, the division bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Smita Das De turned down the petitions.
During the hearing on Wednesday, Justice Sen had asked the counsel of the WBSSC why it was seeking permission for "tainted" candidates to take the examination afresh, when the apex court in its April 3 order had scrapped the entire 2016 recruitment.
Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya had on Monday ordered that 'tainted or identified ineligible' candidates must be excluded from the recruitment process of more than 44,000 teachers and non-teaching staff in West Bengal government-run-and-aided schools.
In his order, Justice Bhattacharyya had also said that if any 'tainted or identified ineligible' candidate has already applied, the application form should be rejected. The High Court clearly stated that the recruitment process should be completed in accordance with the Supreme Court's order.