Verification begins for untainted teachers in West Bengal

The West Bengal School Education Department has started verifying applications submitted by 'untainted' teaching staff who had held state government jobs before clearing the 2016 SSC test and were later removed from service.

The verification follows a recent Supreme Court directive, a senior department official said on June 22.

The department has set a three-day deadline for completing the verification process, which will conclude on June 23.

In its April 3 ruling, the Supreme Court invalidated the appointments of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff but clarified that individuals who had previously worked in state government positions, cleared the 2016 recruitment test, and were not classified as "tainted" may reapply for their earlier roles and designations.

According to a senior official from the School Service Commission (SSC), the School Education Department issued a communication on June 20 to all district inspectors of schools (DISSE) instructing them to authenticate the details of such applicants.

A database of each zone has already been prepared and forwarded to the respective district offices.

"Now the database of every respective zone (district) has been forwarded to the DI office concerned and we have asked for verifying each and every name, whether he/she cleared the 2016 test, whether he/she figured in the untainted list and were on service till April 2," the official explained.

The district inspectors have been asked to submit their feedback by June 23.

A notice circulated by the department said, "The candidates who do not fall in the category of tainted have been given the opportunity to apply to their previous departments or autonomous bodies to continue their previous services."

The notice added, “It appears that the candidates have submitted their applications to several authorities praying for joining in their previous government job. It further appears that some candidates have submitted their representations to the directorate praying for joining in their previous service. Even, some of them have submitted their representations to the DISSE (District Inspector of Schools Secondary Education). In order to streamline the work, it is decided to forward all the representations, received in the directorate, to the respective DISSE.”

Applications from eligible teachers started coming in from April 14 and 15. Earlier, the SSC had submitted a list of over 13,000 "not specifically tainted" teachers who were allowed to continue teaching at their current workplaces and draw salaries until Dec 31.

Many of these teachers are still reporting to duty, while some continue to protest, demanding permanent reinstatement and refusing to appear for any new recruitment exams.