Kolkata, Feb 9 (IANS): A single judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) to terminate the services of 2,819 illegally-appointed non-teaching staff of Group-D category in different state-run schools.

Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the Calcutta High Court directed the commission to upload the list of these 2,819 non-teaching staff on the commission's website within 24 hours and accordingly start the process of terminating their services.

The WBSSC counsel on Thursday admitted before the court that following the review of the recruitment details of these 2,819 non-teaching staff, it has been proved beyond doubts that there had been irregularities in the recruitment process, especially tampering of the optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets in the written examination.

Thereafter, Justice Gangopadhyay said that when the commission is admitting that there had been irregularities, it should initiate the necessary proceedings in the matter at the earliest.

"First publish the names of these candidates on the website and then cancel their appointments. Complete the entire process within the next 24 hours," Justice Gangopadhyay directed the WBSSC's counsel.

It is learnt that on Friday, the commission will submit an affidavit to the court in the matter. Thereafter, first these names would be published on its website following which the commission will order for cancellation of their appointments.

A state education department official, who refused to be named, said that several schools will face crisis after this order of the high court is implemented.

"There are several schools which have just one Group-D staff responsible for jobs like locking and unlocking of classrooms and ringing the period bell, among others. Now the teachers employed in these schools will have to do that work till the time fresh appointments are made," he said.