The Supreme Court has said that there will be no CBI investigation into the West Bengal government's decision to create new posts for around 25,000 sacked teachers and staff. These people were removed after the court found problems in the School Service Commission's hiring process and cancelled it.

A bench led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna said the Calcutta High Court was wrong to order a CBI probe. The top court said that courts cannot investigate cabinet decisions, which are government policy matters. The West Bengal government, led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, had challenged the High Court's decision.

Last week, the Supreme Court said the SSC recruitment process was full of fraud and manipulation, and this had affected its fairness. The Supreme Court said that the teacher appointments in West Bengal were done through large-scale cheating and fraud, and that the entire hiring process was damaged beyond repair. 

The bench, led by the Chief Justice and Justice Sanjay Kumar, said it was not possible to separate honest candidates from those who cheated because the scam was deeply hidden at every level.

The Bengal government had asked the court to let it separate 'tainted' and 'untainted' candidates, but the court rejected that request, saying the entire process was deliberately manipulated. After the ruling, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed anger and said she would stand by the deserving teachers. Her party, Trinamool Congress, is also getting ready for a tough Assembly election campaign next year.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee strongly reacted to the Supreme Court's verdict in the teacher recruitment scam case, saying she would not take the judgment personally and would rework the selection process. She pointed to irregularities in competitive exams in other states, including the Vyapam scam in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and the recent NEET paper leak cases, questioning why Bengal was being singled out. Banerjee accused her political rivals, the BJP and CPI(M), of conspiring to destroy the state's education system. 

About the scam

The controversy began after it was found that over 25,000 appointment letters were issued for only 24,640 teaching and non-teaching posts in 2016, raising allegations of illegal recruitment. The Supreme Court later called the selection process “manipulated and fraudulent” and said it had been compromised beyond repair. Following the verdict, BJP leader Amit Malviya termed it a “crushing defeat” for Banerjee and demanded that she be held accountable.

 

You might also be interested in - Supreme Court cancels appointment of 25,000 teachers and staff in West Bengal