WBSSC case: Calcutta HC upholds order for exclusion of 'tainted' candidates from new job drive

Kolkata, July 10 (IANS) The Calcutta High Court on Thursday upheld an earlier order of a Single-Judge Bench of the same court, directing exclusion of 'tainted' candidates from the fresh selection process initiated by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) to fill teaching posts lying vacant following a Supreme Court order in April, cancelling 25,753 jobs.

Earlier this week, the Calcutta High Court’s Single-Judge Bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharya stated that the candidates already identified as 'tainted' should be excluded from the fresh selection process.

He added that if any candidate who had already been identified as 'tainted' had submitted an application for the fresh recruitment process, their application should be summarily rejected.

The state government and the WBSSC approached the Division Bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Smita Das challenging that part of the Single-Judge Bench order which directed the exclusion of identified 'tainted' candidates from the fresh recruitment process.

On Thursday, the Division Bench of Justice Sen and Justice Das came out with its order upholding the Single-Judge Bench order in the matter.

Through this order, the Division Bench also rejected the counsel of the state government that denying permission to the identified 'tainted' candidates to participate in the fresh recruitment process of the commission would mean double punishment for such candidates.

Giving his reactions in the matter, senior advocate and the CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said that by upholding the Single-Judge Bench order, the Division Bench had foiled attempts by the state government to protect the interest of the identified 'tainted' candidates.

“This was inevitable. When the Supreme Court in April this year cancelled 25,753 jobs, it also clearly barred the participation of ‘tainted’ candidates in the fresh selection process. But still, the state government tried to accommodate them in the fresh selection process,” Bhattacharya said.

--IANS

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