OMR Sheets Manipulation Scam| Supreme Court Stays Calcutta HC’s Order To Terminate Group-D Staff Recruited In 2016
|The Supreme Court in a batch of appeals while extending its interim order passed earlier has further granted a stay on the impugned judgment dated February 16, 2023, of the Calcutta High Court whereby it had directed for cancellation of appointments of the appellants. The appellants were serving in 'Group-‘D’ Posts selected through the West Bengal School Service Commission’s Recruitment Process in 2016, however, were directed to be terminated after their OMR sheets allegedly were found to be manipulated.
In this case, the matter through an order dated April 12, 2023, the Apex Court had granted a stay to the termination orders till the next date of hearing. The Court, however, on the subsequent dates also directed the interim order to continue until further directions.
A bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Sanjay Kumar has listed the matter for further hearing on July 18, 2023.
Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi, P S Patwalia, and S Gurukrishna Kumar appeared for the petitioners and Senior Advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya appeared for the respondent.
In this matter, in respect of the recruitment conducted by the Commission, manipulation of marks was suspected and eventually, the matter was examined by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Pursuant to this, a single judge bench of the High Court on finding prima facie basis passed certain findings adverse to the candidates pertaining to the said recruitment. The bench had directed the cancellation of the appointments of 1911 candidates after the Court noted that the candidates were recommended owing to manipulation of their OMR sheets in the 2016 Recruitment Process.
The appellants, therefore, challenged the order stating that it was drastic in nature and was passed without granting the opportunity of being heard. They also contended that in terms of the West Bengal School Service Commission (Selection of Persons for Appointment to the Post of Non-Teaching Staff) Rules 2009 (for short, 2009 Rules), there is no statutory basis for penalizing the appellants.
On the other hand, Counsel for the respondents and the Commission submitted that the orders impugned are the culmination of orders by which the single bench adjudicated the issues. They submitted that the single bench correctly directed cancellation of the appointments of 1911 candidates.
Subsequent to this, a division bench of the High Court comprising Justice Subrata Talukdar and Justice Supratim Bhattacharya while upholding the order on termination stayed a portion of the order directing appellants to refund their salaries.
“At this stage, considering the principles of balance of convenience and double jeopardy, there shall be only a stay of the portion of the Order directing the appellants to refund salaries from the date of their appointments as stated in Paragraph 19 of the Order dated 10th February, 2023, until further orders.”, the Division Bench had directed.
However, the Supreme Court while passing an interim order dated April 12, 2023 after hearing the submissions made by the CBI, the Commission and the appellants had observed, “…in a case of this nature where extensive fraud is alleged to have been committed, Court has to ensure that manipulators are not given shelter by the process of Court. But we also cannot ignore the requirement of compliance of the principles of natural justice at this stage, particularly since the aggrieved candidates appear to be working in the respective posts since the year 2018-2019”.
Cause Title: Achinta Kumar Mondal & Ors. v. Laxmi Tunga & Ors.
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