The Calcutta High Court on Monday cancelled the illegal recruitment of 23,753 teachers and non-teaching staff by the 2016 School Service Commission (SSC), ordering them to return their salaries with interest.

The court observed that the OMR sheets of Group C, Group D, Class IX and X were manipulated in 2016 making all the recruitments illegal. It added that the names of those who were recruited were included in the panel illegally. “We have no other way but to cancel the whole recruitment panel,” the court said.

The court also ordered fresh recruitment against the posts within 15 days.

Earlier in 2021, the High Court had ordered the Justice Bag committee to review the recruitments in Group C and Group D categories. After preliminary investigation, the committee determined that the OMR sheets were manipulated, following which the court ordered investigations by the CBI and ED.

In August 2022, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had arrested former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and his close aide Arpita Mukherjee in the case.