Soon after the Supreme Court approved the Calcutta High Court's ruling to sack close to 26,000 teachers and non-teaching personnel from West Bengal government-affiliated schools, opposition parties fired at the governing Trinamool Congress (TMC).
In response to the verdict, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee linked the ruling to political interference, stating, "I think this has been done by the CPI(M) and BJP… We have immense respect for the judiciary, but… I cannot accept this judgment." She went on to state, "One Chief Justice of India (CJI) stayed (the High Court verdict) and the other Chief Justice cancelled it. Now you can see what I am trying to say."
The row goes back to April 2024, when a Calcutta High Court division bench declared the 2016 School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment process null and void, terming the appointment of 25,753 teachers and employees illegal. The court directed their removal, asking them to refund salaries with interest, while directing fresh recruitment within 15 days. Banerjee reacted strongly against the order, terming it "illegal" and announcing that she would challenge it. Although the Supreme Court temporarily stayed the decision on May 7, 2023, it allowed the CBI to continue its investigation into the matter.
With the Supreme Court now upholding the High Court's decision, Banerjee immediately called an emergency meeting with Education Minister Bratya Basu, Chief Secretary Manoj Pant, and other senior officials to decide on the state's next move. "We will seek a review in the Supreme Court," she announced, further stating that lawyers would decide the grounds for the petition.
Banerjee promised assistance for the victims of the decision, calling a meet on April 7 to discuss the grievances of the sacked teachers. "I will go to hear them. I can say one thing only, don't be impatient. We are with you and we will. We could be sent to jail for standing by you but don't worry, I will welcome that," she said at a press meet at Nabanna.
Blaming the BJP for dismantling Bengal's education system, Banerjee went on a tirade against the government. She asked questions about the wholesale sacking of employees, suggesting that not every recruit was tainted by malpractice. "The ones whom you term tainted, we don't have evidence about them. Does the BJP government want to bring down the education system of Bengal? What was the Vyapam episode? Over fifty individuals were murdered," she said, pointing towards the notorious Madhya Pradesh recruitment scandal. She also resented the inconsistency in legal proceedings and said, "If money is recovered outside a judge's house, he is only shifted but when it comes to a teacher, then their appointments are cancelled."
In spite of her dissent, Banerjee accepted the Supreme Court's order that the eligible candidates could reappear. "We will accept the decision and we will also finish the process within three months. The SSC is an independent body, but we will make sure that it finishes the reappointment of teachers. Our sentiments will be expressed to the SSC by the Education minister," she stated.
At the same time, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a vociferous attack on the TMC government. State BJP president Sukanta Majumder, in an X post, attributed the rampant corruption in teacher recruitment to Banerjee. "The only one responsible for this gigantic corruption in teacher recruitment is the state's failed Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee," he claimed, further demanding her resignation. He also alleged, "The Supreme Court's judgment has made it clear how, during Mamata Banerjee's regime, the merit of educated unemployed youth in West Bengal was sold for money!
" The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] also condemned the state government's response to the situation. Party leader Sujan Chakraborty noted that the government had one year in which to distinguish between genuine appointees and those hired through illegal means but did nothing about it. "The state government received a year's time to separate the list of authentic candidates from those who secured jobs by paying money.".
But the state government did not get that list and because of it, genuine ones also lost employment," he added.
CPI(M) state secretary Md Selim compared the Bengal scam with the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh and said, "Mamata Banerjee and TMC learned this corruption from the RSS who initially committed this corruption in Madhya Pradesh which we used to know as the Vyapam corruption. Our struggle will go on to root out the prime accused of the corruption, because prior to 2011 (when Banerjee took power), there were school job recruitments but never a corruption charge."
CPI(M) leader and legal expert Bikash Bhattacharya also had something to say about the Supreme Court ruling. "The Supreme Court informed that eligible candidates can appear for the examination in three months' time but whether the government will conduct that examination fairly is another matter. We cannot rely on this government," he said.
The origins of the case date to 2022, when a CBI investigation into the perceived irregularities that took place during the 2016 SSC hiring process was issued by the Calcutta High Court. Over the course of the investigation, some of the most prominent officials, such as former education minister Partha Chatterjee, former SSC administrators Shantiprasad Sinha and Subiresh Bhattacharya, and former MLA Manik Bhattacharya, were arrested. While the political storm keeps raging, the destiny of thousands of sacked teachers is still unclear, with everybody waiting to see the Supreme Court's next move on the review petition.
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