Supreme Court Cancels CBI Probe into Additional Teacher Posts in West Bengal
In a significant reprieve for the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government, the Supreme Court on Tuesday quashed the Calcutta High Court’s order for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the creation of over 6,800 additional posts for teachers and non-teaching staff in 2022.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna held that the High Court’s intervention was unwarranted, observing that the creation of these posts was carried out after due consultation and with the approval of the Governor. The apex court ruled that the matter did not merit judicial scrutiny to the extent of initiating a central agency investigation.
“The creation of supernumerary posts was a policy decision involving procedural approvals and consultations,” the bench noted. “The High Court was not justified in ordering a CBI probe into this aspect.”
The Calcutta High Court had earlier declared the creation of these posts “not legal” and ordered the CBI to investigate, even directing that state cabinet members be taken into custody for questioning. That decision stemmed from concerns that the posts were created to shield individuals who had been illegally appointed through the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment process—already under scrutiny in a separate CBI investigation.
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The Supreme Court made it clear that Tuesday’s ruling only pertained to the specific issue of additional posts and would not impact the broader CBI investigation into the SSC recruitment scam. The scam has already led to several high-profile arrests, including that of former state education minister Partha Chatterjee.
In 2022, the state government issued an order to create 6,861 supernumerary posts for assistant teachers and non-teaching staff, in response to a prior order by then-Calcutta High Court judge Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, which cancelled several appointments. The new posts were intended to absorb waitlisted candidates affected by that ruling.
Critics alleged that the move was a cover-up to protect those who had been illegally recruited. Justice Gangopadhyay ordered a CBI probe into the matter, which was later reviewed by a division bench comprising Justices Debangsu Basak and Mohammad Shabbar Rashid.
The Supreme Court’s ruling has now put a stop to the probe into the state cabinet’s decision to create these posts but has left room for continued investigation into the broader scam.
The decision is expected to offer temporary relief to the West Bengal government, although the political and legal ramifications of the wider SSC recruitment scam are likely to unfold in the coming months.
