In a major blow to the Trinamool Congress Government in West Bengal in an election year, the Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled 25,762 school-level appointments on grounds of ‘corruption and irregularity’, prompting the Opposition parties to demand the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The appointments were made by the State School Service Commission in 2016.
Banerjee, who blamed CPI (M) and BJP for conspiring to malign her Government, however said that though she respected all the judges and the judiciary, her opinion in the present case would not match that of the judges. “I respect the judges and judiciary but I am afraid I cannot accept this order though the Government will have to implement it as it is a judicial verdict,” she said expressing concern about the fate of the job losers who were “getting depressed.”
There are reports that some of them are getting depressed. If something happens to them, who will be responsible?” she asked adding, “Those who are being called tainted … there is no evidence against them… it seems that the BJP and Left want to finish the education system of Bengal.” Drawing a comparison with a scam in Madhya Pradesh she said “what happened in Vyapam? … there was not only a scam but also about people were killed there.”
She had called an urgent meeting with present Education Minister Bratya Basu to find out ways to save the “ill-fated” school staff. The then Education Minister Partha Chatterjee is presently in jail. The Enforcement Directorate had in a raid recovered about Rs 50 crore in cash from his woman aides house in July 2022.
The bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar confirming the earlier Calcutta High Court judgment said that the State Government failed to provide the list of ineligible candidates which was why it was forced to cancel the entire panel of appointees that included teachers, Group C and Group D staff. Never in the history of the State had jobs been judicially cancelled in such large numbers.
The recruitment process was fundamentally flawed on account of manipulations, the Court said adding the integrity of appointment process had been compromised which was why the tainted appointments were invalid and could not be sustained.
Former Justice Abhijit Ganguli the then Calcutta High Court Judge who had for the first time found the irregularities in the school level recruitment process said soon after the Apex Court order that, “instead of blaming the Opposition parties the Chief Minister should accept her liability and resign.” Justice Ganguli is presently a BJP MP from East Midnapore.
At the receiving end of the Opposition attack, the Chief Minister blamed the “unscrupulous CPI(M) and the BJP for the loss of jobs of 25,000 people.”
She said, “the BJP and the Left Front are blaming me but it is their game plan … CPI(M)’s advocate and MP Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya is responsible for this situation … he misled the Court … the BJP too has contributed hugely to this … it is their conspiracy to malign my Government by victimizing the people … when you cannot give jobs do you have a right to take away them.”
She also said that “the State could have been given some time to find out the ineligible candidates from the list of appointees … it could have taken a few months … but not the entire panel has been cancelled.”
Banerjee said that her Government would try to provide relief to the job losers. “As the candidates who are not tainted can still appear for recruitment test with age relaxation I will request the SSC which is an autonomous body to complete the process in three months,” she said.
Even as she layed the blame on the Opposition doors the BJP called it a new tactic to save her face. “Of any one person who is responsible for this anomaly it is the Chief Minister … so we are demanding his resignation without delay,” State Opposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari said.
CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakrabarty said, “the Chief Minister could have saved the genuine appointees … there were a few thousands of them who could have been saved had the Government provided the list of illegal appointees by providing the list of those who had secured the jobs in lieu of money … but they were taking chances … while trying to save the corrupt this Government sacrificed the genuine people also.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of “victims of the order” descended on streets crying and holding the State Government responsible for their fate. “We have married … have our families … have purchased houses and have EMIs to give … we have even left our private tuitions … where will we go now,” asked one of the sacked appointees adding, “will the Chief Minister take our responsibility … will be able to appear for the new tests with the kind of agility that we had when we were young by 10 years … this is an open murder of thousands of people by a tainted State Government.”
