State to disburse April salaries to about 25,753 staff whose jobs were cancelled

Kolkata: The state government has decided to disburse salaries for April to 25,753-odd teachers and non-teaching staff whose appointment has been invalidated by the Calcutta High Court on Monday.

The state government has already moved the Supreme Court challenging the verdict of the Calcutta High Court. The West Bengal Central School Service Commission (WBCSSC) and the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education have also moved the Apex Court. A state government official, on conditions of anonymity, said that the decision to pay salaries was taken in accordance with the Labour Act.

“The case is pending at the Supreme Court and those who have lost their jobs have worked almost the entire month. Hence, we will be paying their salaries for April,” the official added. The state has plans to pay their salaries as long as the case goes on at the apex court. The WBCSSC on Thursday ruled out allegations that the Commission did not properly furnish the list of ineligible candidates before the High Court.

The Commission claimed that in three separate petitions information about 5250 such candidates were presented, including class IX-X, XI-XII as well as Group C and Group D. “The questions being raised over the role of the Commission after the Calcutta High Court’s judgement is not true. Three separate petitions were submitted and information regarding the ineligible candidates were suo motu presented before the judiciary,” Siddharta Majumdar, chairman of WBCSSC said. The petitions were submitted on December 18, December 20 and January 5 by the Commission.

According to the Commission, in the case of teachers’ recruitment in classes IX and X, names of 808 ineligible candidates were submitted which included tampering in OMR sheet as well as jumping of ranks. In the case of classes XI and XII, there were irregularities with 811 candidates.

For Group C, such details were given for 1133 persons while for Group D, the number was 2313.