The Mamata Banerjee government on Monday suffered a double embarrassment before the Supreme Court in the Sandeshkhali and illegal appointments cases when it refused to grant relief to the government.
The Supreme Court came down heavily on the State Government for coming before it with plea to quash the CBI probe into allegations of sexual assault and forcible land grabbing from Sandeshkhali by suspended Trinamool Congress leader Shahjahan Sheikh.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta asked why the State should be aggrieved in the matter.
“Why should the State file a petition to protect some private entities? Why should the State come here in this case?” a bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Sandeep Mehta asked the West Bengal Government, represented by senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Jaideep Gupta.
The counsel contended that there were observations and comments made by the Calcutta High Court’s division bench, which were “not fair as the State has taken efforts in the matter”.
“So, you go and get that expunged in the High Court… why come here?” Justice Sandeep Mehta asked.
The court finally allowed the plea for adjournment and posted the matter in July.
In the second snub to the State Government later in the day, the Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra refused to stay the Calcutta High Court’s order terminating the appointment of approximately 26,000 teachers “illegally” recruited in West Bengal in 2016.
The top court was hearing a petition by the State Government against a High Court order invalidating the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff made by the School Service Commission (SSC) in State-run and State-aided schools. The State Government, in its appeal filed before the top court, said the High Court cancelled the appointments “arbitrarily” and sought a stay on the order.
“The High Court failed to appreciate the ramification of cancelling the entire selection process, leading to straightaway termination of teaching and non-teaching staff from service with immediate effect, without giving sufficient time to the petitioner state to deal with such an exigency, rendering the education system at a standstill,” the plea said.
Refusing to stay the Calcutta High Court order, Justice Chandrachud observed: “If people who were not selected on merit are working as teachers, this is a serious matter.” He stressed that some mechanism would have to be worked out to identify those who were appointed illegally.
The Supreme Court expressed serious concern about the agency which conducted the recruitment test, destruction of OMR answer sheets, erasing of software about results and inclusion of people who were not part of the selection panel. “You have to satisfy us how the High Court went wrong,” the Chief Justice said.
The Mamata Banerjee Government received a small relief when the Supreme Court stayed a part of the High Court’s order that had asked the CBI to probe all officials involved in the recruitment of the teachers.
“The State Government counsel pleaded before the court that the entire Cabinet could be arrested for its decision to create supernumerary posts to protect the irregularly appointed candidates,” said senior counsel Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, who is representing aggrieved job-seekers.
“The High Court judgment says ‘It is shocking that, at the level of the cabinet of the State Government, decision is taken to protect employment obtained fraudulently in a selection process conducted by SSC for State Funded Schools,” said Bikash Bhattacharya. “If the CBI carries out its investigation properly, Mamata and her entire Cabinet will be in jail,” he said.
Assuaging the State Government’s fear that the Ministers may be arrested over the case, the Supreme Court said: “We will stay the direction which says the CBI will undertake further investigation against officials in the State Government.”
The Supreme Court posted the next hearing for May 6.
The BJP’s leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, said: “In order to save those appointees who “purchased” teaching and non-teaching posts or got recruited in the 2016 School Service Commission (SSC) Panel, because they were relatives of TMC Leaders; Mamata Banerjee wilfully sacrificed the major chunk of the 25,753 employees, despite being eligible. Only Mamata Banerjee is to be blamed for the sufferings of the eligible candidates, who are forced to shed tears because Mamata Banerjee was desperate to save her skin, as any distinction made by the SSC between the Eligible and Ineligible would have been admission of guilt.”
Amit Malviya, the IT cell chief of the BJP and the party’s co-minder in West Bengal, said: “Mamata Banerjee has ruined lives of millions of young men and women, by admitting unqualified people, fraudulently. Imagine the future of children, who are being taught by these under qualified appointees.”