The Calcutta High Court has canceled the 2016 application process for government-sponsored and aided schools, dealing a serious blow to the Mamata Banerjee government.
According to the order, up to 25,753 appointees stand to lose their jobs and receive a 12% interest refund on the salaries they withdrew upon joining.

Following the submission of blank OMR sheets, a division bench consisting of Justices Debangsu Basak and Md. Shabbar Rashidi ordered the school teachers who were illegally recruited to return their salaries within four weeks.

The duty of obtaining the money from these teachers has fallen to the district magistrates.

It is probable that the state government will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. Many former officials and leaders of the Trinamool are behind bars in relation to the teacher recruitment case.

The West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSCC) established panels last year, and the appointment of 36,000 inexperienced primary teachers was revoked by the Calcutta High Court. Later on, the number was changed to 32,000.

Abhijit Ganguly, the judge who had passed the order, resigned after several run-ins with the ruling Trinamool and is now a BJP candidate from Tamluk in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

Days later after the initial judgment, another single-judge bench had paused it until further orders.

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