SC terms WB recruitment scam 'systemic fraud', says state was duty-bound to maintain records
New Delhi (PTI): Terming the alleged recruitment scam in West Bengal "systemic fraud", the Supreme Court on Tuesday said authorities were duty-bound to maintain the digitised records pertaining to the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the Calcutta High Court's April 22 decision that invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff in state-run and state-aided schools of West Bengal.
"The public job is so scarce.... Nothing remains if the faith of the public goes. This is systemic fraud. Public jobs are extremely scarce today and are looked at for social mobility. What remains in the system if their appointments are also maligned? People will lose faith, how do you countenance this?" the CJI asked the lawyers representing the state government.
The bench said the state government has nothing to show that the data was maintained by its authorities and asked about its availability.
"Either you have the data or you do not have it.... You were duty-bound to maintain the documents in digitised form. Now, it is obvious that there is no data. You are unaware of the fact that your service provider has engaged another agency. You had to maintain supervisory control," the bench told the state government's lawyers.
The hearing would resume at 2 pm.
Earlier, the state government had challenged the Calcutta High Court order, saying it cancelled the appointments "arbitrarily".
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Sunrisers Hyderabad defeat Punjab Kings by four wickets in IPL
Hyderabad, May 19: Sunrisers Hyderabad crushed Punjab Kings by four wickets to end the league phase of the Indian Premier League with 17 points here on Sunday.
Chasing 215, SRH overhauled the target with five balls to spare after opener Abhishek Sharma hammered a 28-ball 66 (6x6s, 5x4s).
SRH were also bolstered by contributions from Rahul Tripathi (33), Nitish Reddy (37) and Heinrich Klaasen (42) along the way.
Earlier in the contest, Punjab Kings were helped by Prabhsimran Singh's quick fire 71 as well as useful contributions from opener Atharva Taide (46) and Rilee Rossouw (49) to post 214/5 on board.
Prabhsimran and Taide added 97 runs from just 55 balls. While Taide scored 46 from 27 balls with five fours and two sixes, Prabhsimran hit seven sixes and four fours for his 45-ball 71.
Rossouw signed off with a 24-ball 49 with four sixes and three fours while stand-in skipper Jitesh Sharma produced late fireworks to make 32 not out.
Brief scores:
Punjab Kings 214/5 in 20 overs (Atharva Taide 46, Prabhsimran Singh 71, Rilee Rossouw 49; T Natarajan 2/33).
Hyderabad 215/6 in 19.1 overs (Abhishek Sharma 66, Rahul Tripathi 33, Nitish Reddy 37, Heinrich Klaasen 42; Arshdeep Singh 2/37) by 4 wickets.
