''Merely working longer hours will not make illegal recruitment valid.''

The special bench of the Calcutta High Court has made this comment in the School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam. The case came up for hearing on Monday before a division bench of Justice Debangshu Basak and Justice Mohammad Shabbar Rashidi.

At the same time, the judge said that who worked for how many days is not a big issue, the main issue is whether the appointment is valid or not.

The Supreme Court has directed that the hearing of all cases related to SSC recruitment corruption be completed within six months by the special bench of the Calcutta High Court. Under the same order, the hearing is being held in a special bench.

During the hearing here, the special bench of the High Court also expressed its views in favor of the order passed by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay.

Justice Gangopadhyay had ordered the cancellation of all illegal appointments in the recruitment case. However, the said order was later suspended by a two-judge division bench. Those who have been working in the school for a long time have requested that their service should also be retained by creating the post of 'Super Numeric' because they have been working for a long time.

The job seekers also appealed that Justice Gangopadhyay cannot give that order.

On Monday, the special bench of the High Court said that even after the expiry of the period, the employment letter will be given, there is no problem. But if the court takes action then it is a matter beyond the jurisdiction of the court.

However, the judge's remarks were countered by state counsel Kalyan Banerjee.

Citing the order of the single bench, he said that SSC was always afraid of the single bench of Justice Gangopadhyay and the plaintiffs also selectively filed all the cases in the bench of Justice Gangopadhyay.

''Why did the litigants not file the case in another bench in three years? Vakali Banerjee also said as an argument that if someone gives or takes bribe somewhere, it does not mean that I am bad. Let the good and the bad be divided.''

Petitioners' lawyer Vikas Ranjan Bhattacharya said that a lot has been done to delay the investigation. People who got jobs illegally have approached the court to stop the publication of the merit list.

Further, the judge said that the future of the job would depend on the validity of the appointment. Illegal appointment will not be valid merely on the ground that he has been in service for a long time. Court ordered to publish new merit list in SSC case. Some of the job seekers raised objections, on which the judge also raised questions on Monday. He said that whenever someone appears in any competitive examination, he knows that the merit list will be released. How can anyone be insulted when the merit list or panel is published?