Calcutta HC restraints Bengal from paying monthly stipend to sacked non-teaching staff

The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the West Bengal government to stop paying monthly stipends to a group of non-teaching staff who had been sacked after the Supreme Court in April found irregularities in the 2016 recruitment process, Live Law reported.

On June 9, Justice Amrita Sinha had reserved the judgement in the matter but had stayed the state government’s plan to provide monthly stipends of Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 to the persons.

In its Friday order, the court reinforced that restriction, prohibiting such payments till at least September 26.

Sinha issued the direction on a writ petition challenging the provision of the allowance to the staff whose services had been terminated. The petition was filed by a candidate on the waitlist who was not recruited despite being on the merit list, allegedly due to irregularities in the hiring process.

On April 3, the Supreme Court upheld the High Court’s April 2024 order terminating the appointment of about 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff by West Bengal’s School Service Commission. The bench passed the order after observing that the recruitment process was “vitiated by manipulation and fraud”.

The top court on April 17 permitted “untainted” teachers to be retained until the end of the academic year or until fresh appointments are made, whichever was earlier. However, it did not grant relief to...

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