“West Bengal Education Department Faces Contempt Petition Over Non-Compliance with High Court Order on 26,000 School Jobs”
The legal battle over the West Bengal school jobs scam continues to intensify, with the latest developments unfolding in the Calcutta High Court on April 23, 2025. A contempt petition filed against the West Bengal Education Department has brought renewed attention to the controversy surrounding the alleged irregularities in the appointment of 26,000 teaching and non-teaching staff through the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC). At the heart of the matter lies the claim that the Education Department has failed to comply with the Calcutta High Court’s order, particularly regarding the immediate public disclosure of OMR sheets, a directive that was originally upheld—with minor modifications—by the Supreme Court of India.
During Tuesday’s proceedings, a division bench comprising Justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi heard arguments from all involved parties. The state’s Education Department, represented by its legal counsel, raised a fundamental objection to the maintainability of the contempt petition in the High Court. According to the department’s lawyer, since the Supreme Court had modified some aspects of the original high court ruling in its orders dated April 3 and April 17, any alleged non-compliance with those directives should be brought before the apex court, not the high court.
Echoing this stance, the legal counsel for the West Bengal School Service Commission also argued that the modifications introduced by the Supreme Court imply that the Calcutta High Court no longer retains jurisdiction to entertain contempt proceedings in this specific matter. The SSC maintained that the changes in judicial directives created a legal basis for moving such concerns solely to the Supreme Court.
However, the petitioners strongly refuted this interpretation. Their lawyer asserted that despite the Supreme Court’s intervention, the essential directives from the Calcutta High Court—especially the instruction to make the OMR sheets publicly accessible “forthwith”—remain intact. They argued that the state authorities have not fulfilled this obligation, thereby violating the court’s original order. According to the petitioners, three hard disks containing the OMR sheets have yet to be uploaded to the SSC’s official website, depriving candidates and the public of access to crucial examination data.
The contempt petition was filed in response to what the petitioners describe as a willful disobedience of the high court’s April 22, 2024, ruling. This order had mandated the SSC to upload the OMR sheets without delay, a move aimed at promoting transparency and restoring trust in the recruitment process, which has been mired in allegations of corruption and favoritism. The Supreme Court’s subsequent orders on April 3 and April 17, 2025, while making certain adjustments, did not fundamentally alter the core directives of the high court’s judgment, according to the petitioners’ legal team.
As the legal tug-of-war continues, the Calcutta High Court has scheduled the next hearing on the matter for the coming Monday. The case remains a focal point of public attention in West Bengal, with thousands of job aspirants and political observers closely watching how the judiciary navigates this contentious issue.
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