Teacher Recruitment Scam Case: SC pulls up the West Bengal Government authorities, and says, “Nothing remains if the faith of the public goes. This is systemic fraud”

Today, the Supreme Court (SC) of India was hearing petitions against the order of the Calcutta High Court canceling the jobs of over 25,000 teachers in Bengal Schools concerning the teacher recruitment scam. The bench constituting Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice Manoj Misra, and Justice JB Pardiwala was hearing the matter. The bench pulled up the West Bengal Government authorities over the teacher recruitment scam case, calling it ‘systematic fraud’. During the proceedings today (May 07), the SC bench said “Nothing remains if the faith of the public goes. This is systemic fraud. Public jobs are extremely scarce today and are looked at for social mobility.” It further asked the lawyer representing the West Bengal government, “What remains in the system if their appointments are also maligned? People will lose faith. How do you countenance this?” Along with this, the top court also told the government that they have to maintain supervisory control over the recruitment process. It said “Either you have the data or you do not have it... You were duty-bound to maintain the documents in digitized form (records related to the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff in Bengal's government-aided schools). Now, it is obvious that there is no data. You are unaware of the fact that your service provider has engaged another agency. You had to maintain supervisory control.” Earlier on April 29, 2024, the SC bench stayed the order of the Calcutta HC that directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the role of the West Bengal government officials in an alleged teacher recruitment scam. The same was extended till May 07 by the top court on May 06, 2024 (Monday).