Interim Protection And CBI Probe: 5 Highlights From Supreme Court Hearing On West Bengal Teachers' Recruitment Scam

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (7 May) came down heavily on the West Bengal government but also granted interim protection to those appointees whose recruitment was canceled by the Calcutta High Court.

Here are the five highlights from the hearing on the teachers' recruitment scam where the West Bengal government challenged the Calcutta High Court's decision to cancel about 25,000 appointments:

1. Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud questioned the Mamata Banerjee-led government on creating supernumerary posts for hiring waitlisted candidates when the selection process was already under challenge in court.

2. The court also pulled up the state government over a breach of security protocols. The CJI expressed concern over people losing faith, when public jobs, which are "extremely scarce" these days are "also maligned."

3. The CJI noted, "In the selection process of such a large magnitude, the cancellation should be the last recourse," and focused on segregating tainted appointments by setting out the modalities to determine the segregation.

4. The court granted interim protection to the appointees with a condition "that any person found to have been appointed illegally and continued as a consequence of the present order shall refund the salary."

5. The court also allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to continue investigating on the condition that no coercive steps would be taken. The investigation was ordered by the Calcutta High Court.