Bengal school job case: 3,512 ‘tainted’ candidates not to participate in fresh recruitment process

Kolkata, Nov 3 (IANS) West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) has identified 3,512 candidates as ‘tainted’ who allegedly paid money for getting school jobs in the 2016 panel and hence would not be able to participate in the fresh recruitment process.

Earlier this year, when a division bench of the Supreme Court cancelled the entire 2016 panel of 25,753 school jobs, those losing jobs included both teaching and non-teaching staff.

The written examinations for the teaching staff for secondary and higher-secondary sections have already been completed, and their results are expected any day now.

Now, the written examination for fresh recruitment for non-teaching staff in Group-C and Group-D categories will happen, the notification for which had already been published, and the WBSSC has started receiving applications for the same from Monday.

And on Monday, the Commission published a list of 3,512 tainted candidates, who would not be able to participate in the fresh recruitment process.

Out of the 3,512 candidates who have been identified as “tainted” as per the list published on Monday, 2,591 secured jobs without recommendation letters from the Commission, and the remaining 921 candidates secured jobs through rank-jumps.

Incidentally, on April 3 this year, when the division bench of the Supreme Court cancelled the entire 2016 panel WBSSC, it allowed the “untainted” teachers to attend classes till December this year, by when the recruitment process for the teaching staff would be completed.

However, the apex court did not give the same relaxation to the non-teaching staff, whether “tainted” or “untainted”. After that, the West Bengal government decided to give an allowance of Rs 25,000 per month to unemployed Group C workers and Rs 20,000 per month to Group D workers. However, in the wake of a case, the Calcutta High Court stayed that decision.

–IANS

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