SC upholds Calcutta HC order on termination of non-teaching staff

KOLKATA: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the Calcutta High Court's order regarding termination of 1,911 illegally recruited non-teaching staff of state-run schools in West Bengal.

However, it directed the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) not to fill up the posts till further orders.

Recently, Calcutta High Court's single-judge bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay ordered for the termination of the 1,911 non-teaching staff in Group-D category. Along with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)'s finding, the WBSSC had submitted that these candidates were recruited illegally and their optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets were tampered with to facilitate their unethical appointment.

These aggrieved employees then approached Calcutta High Court's division bench of Justices Subrata Talukdar and Supratim Bhattacharya against the single-judge bench order.

However, it refused to stay the single-judge bench order but put an interim stay on the part that directed them to return the salary received so far.

Failing to get a stay from the Calcutta High Court's division bench, the non-teaching staff then approached the Supreme Court only to be disappointed.