West Bengal: ‘Deprived’ Candidates Want College Service Commission Head to Quit

Kolkata: After the School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam, job seekers are agitated over allegations of corruption in the recruitment of college teachers. Aggrieved candidates have taken to the streets and on Wednesday, a protest was held on College Street to demand an investigation into alleged corruption at the College Service Commission (CSC). Deepak Kar, Chairman of the commission, was criticised by the protesting candidates who were not appointed in the merit list of CSC in 2016.

Priyanka Kundu, who took part in the College Street protest, said she was a post-graduate (MA) in Geography and a Gold Medallist from Calcutta University in 2010. After the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government returned to power, the then Education Minister Partha Chatterjee had handed over the gold medal to her. But, she is angry with allegations of corruption in college teachers’ recruitment.

“Corruption has started in the appointment of professors under the supervision of CSC chairman Deepak Kar. Jobs have been given to people whose names are not on the merit list. We are demanding an inquiry to find out why and under whose direction this has happened. Kar has to resign for playing with the future of students and youth of Bengal,” she said.

Another aggrieved candidate Himadri Mandal questioned the "arbitrariness" of the commission, saying "not only was the job offered for money, relatives were also accommodated in the CSC." “

“The commission has maintained complete opacity. So far, it has not disclosed whether those who have got jobs in any college are qualified to teach in colleges. That is why we are demanding an investigation into CSC corruption,” Mandal said.

Another protesting candidate Prasenjit Maity told People's Reporter : "If the commission is not corrupt, then why aren't they publishing the score sheets of the merit list candidates as per the directions of Calcutta High Court? Why are they disobeying the court order? On November 15, 2021, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court, headed by Justice Subrata Talukdar and Justice Kesang Doma Bhutia, had directed CSC to publish the 'Score Sheet' of the appointment for transparency. But they didn’t publish it yet. "

After 2018, it was at the end of 2020 that CSC issued a notification for recruitment of new college teachers. At present the interview process is going on, as per that notification.

Expressing his anger over non-transparency of  CSC, Binay Krishna Pal, a candidate,  said the number of candidates was 25 in the interview for the appointment of professors in CSC in 2015, which has been increased to more than 40 in 2018. “This is actually against the order of the Supreme Court and contrary to UGC's guidelines,” he alleged.

Several calls made to Kar, chairman of the commission, by People’s Reporter went unanswered.

Incidentally, the commission issued guidelines to extend the merit list due to the pandemic. The deadline for the merit list is December 31, 2020. However, before this period, the CSC issued a new recruitment notice that created controversy all around. It is learned that in the recruitment process conducted by the commission in 2018, candidates from more than one subject were not invited. Even in the case of extension of merit lists, the policy of allotment was not followed. It is those deprived candidates who have taken to protests on College Street, Gandhi Statue, Dharmatala Y Channel more than once to demand their appointment.

The protesting candidates also appealed to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee; the then Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, and the present Education Minister Bratya Bose via email, demanding transparency in the appointment process. They have also approached MLAs and MPs. A letter has also been written to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar. Besides, the protesters have also submitted memoranda to the state education department six times.

The candidates feel everyone is avoiding the issue of 'corruption' in the recruitment process of the College Service Commission, which is why they are demanding complete transparency in the recruitment process of teachers, in colleges as well as in schools. 

(This an edited version of the original article)