In a significant relief for the Mamata Banerjee administration, the Supreme Court on Tuesday chose to reverse the Calcutta High Court’s ruling that mandated a CBI investigation into the creation of supernumerary or extra positions for Staff Selection Commission (SSC) recruitment in 2022.
The bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, noted that judicial intervention was unnecessary since the Bengal education department established the additional posts following proper consultations and with the Governor’s approval.
Nevertheless, when the issue was presented to the High Court, it determined that establishing the extra positions was “not lawful.” The division bench of the High Court instructed the central investigative agency to detain cabinet members for interrogation regarding the decision.
Following the Supreme Court’s stay on the High Court’s order permitting a CBI investigation, it ultimately rejected the directive today, noting that the High Court lacked justification for initiating the probe.
However, the supreme court specified that its ruling was confined solely to the High Court’s instruction for a CBI investigation into the establishment of supernumerary posts. It also mentioned that its ruling does not, in any manner, touch on other elements of the inquiry or the charges brought by the CBI related to the case, which even resulted in the arrest of former Education Minister and close Mamata associate, Partha Chatterjee.
Last week, the supreme court confirmed the Calcutta High Court’s decision to annul the hiring of 25,000 teaching and non-teaching personnel by the state government in the 2016 school jobs for cash scandal.
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In 2022, the Mamata Banerjee administration established new positions after then-Calcutta High Court judge, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, mandated the annulment of numerous appointments due to the CBI investigation into the 2016 SSC recruitment scandal.
Many claimed that the extra posts were established to protect those who were appointed unlawfully. Nevertheless, when the issue was presented to Justice Gangopadhyay’s bench, he ordered a CBI investigation into the state cabinet and its ruling. Subsequently, the same matter was examined by a special division bench, including Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Mohammad Shabbar Rash.
The order from the state government, issued on May 19, 2022, aimed to fill additional positions for assistant teachers, such as physical education and work education instructors, along with non-teaching personnel in recognized aided and sponsored schools to integrate waitlisted applicants.
The order mandated the establishment of 6,861 additional positions for both instructional and non-instructional employees.
