Supreme Court Upholds Cancellation of 25,000 Teacher Appointments in West Bengal

The court ordered a fresh recruitment process within three months, exempted individuals with disabilities from termination, and allowed the CBI probe into recruitment fraud to continue.

The Supreme Court confirmed the Calcutta High Court's 2024 decision to annul over 25,000 teacher and staff appointments due to recruitment fraud and manipulation.
The 2016 recruitment process by the West Bengal School Service Commission was deemed fundamentally flawed, involving tampered OMR sheets and rank-jumping.
The court directed the West Bengal government to conduct a fresh recruitment process within three months, with those failing to qualify required to return their salaries.
Individuals with disabilities were exempted from termination and allowed to continue in their current roles.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will proceed with its investigation into the irregularities, which have implicated top Trinamool Congress leaders, including jailed former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee.