It was asked by the Chief Justice to the Bengal government that why did the state create supernumerary posts and hired the waitlisted candidates when it knew that the selection process itself had been challenged in the court.
The West Bengal government’s counsel, Senior Advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul asked whether such an order could be sustained or not. “It is not even CBI’s case that 25,000 appointments are all illegal. Everything, teacher-child ratio is gone for a toss,” he said. Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta, who was appearing for the school service commission (SSC), argued that the high court bench does not have the jurisdiction to cancel the jobs said that its orders stood in conflict with the judgement passed by Supreme Court regarding this matter. The Chief Justice asked that why a tender was not issued for “such a sensitive matter”.
The Chief Justice also asked that if the commission wrongly told the RTI applicants that it had the data. “There is no data (with you) at all.” Mr Gupta replied, “That may be.” When he asked if the high court’s directions were fair, the Chief Justice replied, “But this is systemic fraud. Public jobs are extremely scarce today and are looked at for social mobility. What remains in the system if their appointments are also maligned? People will lose faith, how do you countenance this?”
