A committee headed by a retired Calcutta High Court judge on Friday submitted a file in the High Court highlighting irregularities in the recruitment of Group C batch of school staff using the West Bengal School Service Commission.The document was submitted to the Calcutta High Court’s division bench of Justice Subrata Talukder and Justice Anand Kumar Mukherjee. Justice (Retd.) R.K. Bag was asked to appear in court on charges of irregularities in the recruitment of C group workers by the commission.
Arunava Bandyopadhyay, an attorney acting for the Justice Bagh Committee, said the investigation had found major irregularities where 381 candidates were given appointment letters in a bypass. “Out of 381 candidates, 221 names have not made it to the recruitment panel in any way, not even in the waiting list now.. Recruitment was the rule of the past,” the attorney said. He added that the committee approved how the same should be investigated in the case. The probe record also questioned the legitimacy of the five-member committee appointed by former state education minister Partha Chatterjee. Citing irregularities in the appointment, the petitioners approached the High Court which asked a committee headed by Justice Bagg to complete the inquiry within 4 weeks.
Counsel representing the petitioners demanded that civil and criminal charges be initiated against the officials of the West Bengal School Service Commission. The petitioners have also demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The court will announce its order on May 18.
Earlier, the Justice Bagh Committee submitted a separate record of irregularities in Group D recruitment through the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) before the High Court. Based on the report, the court had last month directed the CBI to conduct a custodial probe into the conduct of WBSSC officials in the alleged corruption in the recruitment of Group D employees by the commission.
Allegations of corruption in recruitment through WBSSC have come as an embarrassment to the West Bengal government. Opposition political parties have targeted state authorities with new charges of corruption. During the day, State Education Minister Bratya Bose met Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar at Raj Bhavan over training issues in the state.