1,911 Illegally Appointed Bengal School Staff Sacked, To Return Salary

The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education to sack 1,911 Group D employees who were appointed in state government schools illegally.

The High Court was told that the 1,911 employees had got the recommendation wrongly which the court saw as manipulation of their Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets for the recruitment examination in 2016.

"The Commission has said that amid passing of this judgement it has uploaded a notification cancelling recommendations of 1,911 candidates as their marks in the commission server are incorrect. It is said that the marks are incorrect but submission is made that it is manipulated. I accept this submission. As 1,911 candidates were wrongly recommended, the court is ordering the commission to cancel the service of 1,911 candidates," a single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court said in its order.

"Commission is directed that in place of 1,911 candidates, based on merit from names of waitlisted candidates from the government list, should be recommended," the court order read.

"If at any point in time, it is found that the waitlisted candidates' OMR sheets are also manipulated, their recommendation will also be cancelled," the court added.

The court has also ordered that from today, the 1,911 employees shall not be treated as Group D staff at the schools where they were recommended for jobs.

"From today they will not be allowed to enter the schools and not be allowed to deal with school property," the court said.

The court has also ordered the 1,911 candidates to refund the salaries they have drawn during their appointment period.

"Salary is to be refunded in instalments for the number of months they have drawn the salary. In any event, these persons shall not be allowed to participate in any exam relating to any recruitment in the country without the leave of the court and they are expected to come clean to the CBI on how they got their employment. Their police verification shall also not be cleared for any recruitment," the court said while passing orders.