Supreme Court Overturns CBI Probe Order on Supernumerary Posts in West Bengal

The Supreme Court nullified the Calcutta High Court's directive for a CBI probe into the West Bengal government's creation of supernumerary posts for school teachers, while endorsing an investigation into related scandals. The Court deemed the initial order unjustified given the circumstances surrounding the government's decision.

The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, nullified an order from the Calcutta High Court that called for a CBI investigation into the West Bengal government's creation of supernumerary posts related to teacher appointments through the School Services Commission. This decision was rendered by a bench comprised of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, which nonetheless upheld the High Court's directions for a CBI probe into other alleged irregularities sparked by the scandal.

The bench criticized the timing of the creation of supernumerary posts, highlighting that the decision was taken amidst pending litigations in the High Court, making it impossible to examine candidates for malpractice effectively. Consequently, the judges quashed the High Court's directive pertaining to the supernumerary posts.

In their judgment, the judges clarified that the High Court wasn't justified in involving the CBI regarding the creation of supernumerary posts. It should be noted that this came amid increasing scrutiny, as the Court had previously upheld the annulment of approximately 25,000 teacher appointments based on fraudulent recruitment processes undertaken by the state SSC.

(With inputs from agencies.)