Kolkata: The West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) has sent a list of probable anomalies related to ‘untainted’ teachers, appointed through the 2016 State Level Selection Test (SLST), to the state School Education Department for verification, officials confirmed on Saturday. Earlier this week, the WBSSC had sent a list of 15,403 teachers found ‘untainted’ out of 17,206 recruited through the 2016 process. However, several discrepancies were flagged soon after the list was circulated among district inspectors of schools (DIs). Several eligible teachers alleged that their names were missing, while some, whose appointments had earlier been cancelled, found their names in the list. Schools also pointed out that certain names on the list did not match any existing staff member.
Following complaints, the WBSSC reviewed the records and identified probable anomalies. Officials said the anomalies list has been forwarded to the School Education department, which, along with DIs, is expected to verify and rectify the errors. “It is not possible for the SSC to fix these discrepancies directly. In many cases, the SSC database showed a teacher at one school, but the teacher was working at another school, which was not updated in the records. In some instances, teachers were wrongly marked as non-joining. These cases have now been flagged,” an official said. Schools have been instructed to stop the salaries of teachers whose names do not appear on the ‘untainted’ list. Group C and Group D staff recruited through the 3rd Regional Level Selection Test (RLST) will also face salary stoppages, as they have not received relief from the Supreme Court. However, physically handicapped (PH) teaching and non-teaching staff will continue receiving salaries.
Heads of institutions have been instructed to carefully check if teachers transferred into their schools are included in the ‘untainted’ list of their original districts. Salary bills for this month must be prepared only after thorough verification to ensure eligible staff receive payments, officials said. Meanwhile, a group of teachers and non-teaching staff, under the banner of the “United Teaching and Non-Teaching Forum”, staged a sit-in outside Education minister Bratya Basu’s residence on Saturday, alleging their exclusion from the ‘untainted’ list due to unresolved discrepancies in their OMR sheets. They questioned the salary stoppage despite no proven charges.