After years of service, teachers recruited in WB’s 2016 hiring drive are out of jobs. The court found the process corrupt—bribes, destroyed exam records, political links. Many are breaking down, saying they’re being punished for a scam they didn’t commit.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:0026,000 jobs, years of service, now declared invalid, just like that.
00:17On 3rd April 2025, the Supreme Court of India upheld the Calcutta High Court's verdict
00:22that cancelled 25,753 appointments made through the 2016 recruitment drive by the West Bengal
00:28School Service Commission.
00:29The court said the recruitment process was vitiated and tainted, involving massive corruption,
00:35manipulation and destroyed exam records.
00:38These appointments date back to 2016, when the West Bengal SSC conducted exams to fill
00:42teaching and non-teaching posts in government and aided schools.
00:46But what followed was a scam that shook the state.
00:49As it turns out, the entire recruitment drive was built on corruption, manipulation and
00:53missing exam records.
00:55From destroyed OMR sheets to reports of bribes ranging from 5 to 15 lakh rupees, the scam
01:00ran deep.
01:01A CBI probe revealed that digital copies of answer sheets were missing from the servers,
01:05raising serious doubts of foul play.
01:07In 2022, the Enforcement Directorate arrested former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee
01:11and his aide Arpita Mukherjee after more than 50 crore rupees in cash were seized from their
01:17homes.
01:18Allegedly part of the cash-for-jobs scam, he was granted bail in December 2024.
01:22On April 22, 2024, the Calcutta High Court ruled that the entire selection process was
01:27fraudulent.
01:28It ordered the termination of nearly 26,000 staff and directed a CBI investigation.
01:33The state government challenged this in the Supreme Court.
01:36And on April 3, 2025, the Apex Court said it found no valid ground to interfere with
01:41the High Court's direction that the services of tainted candidates must be cancelled and
01:45that they should refund any salary or payment.
01:52All the details of 19,000 candidates are on the website, but there is no allegation
01:59against us or against 19,000 candidates like me.
02:04Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee rejected the judgement, saying innocent teachers are being
02:08punished for the government's failures.
02:10What happens to those who were genuinely qualified?
02:12Can a new system fix years of broken trust?
02:14Why are we being punished?
02:17We are not on any of the tainted candidates' lists.
02:22For more UN videos visit www.un.org