Defiant Mamata asks sacked teachers to 'continue with work'

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday pledged to protect the rights of 'eligible candidates' who lost their jobs after a recent Supreme Court verdict, evoking mixed responses from the affected teachers, thousands of whom turned up to hear the leader speak but remained dangling between hope and despair after she finished.

While a section of teachers thanked Banerjee for her assertion to 'continue fighting for them as long as she is alive and even if it meant going to jail', a significant number of others expressed dissatisfaction, claiming no concrete guarantees were provided regarding reinstatement of their jobs.

Speaking at a packed gathering of the affected people, Banerjee said, "No one has received any termination letter yet. So continue with your work. You are free to offer voluntary service in the meantime."

The Supreme Court on April 3 upheld a 2024 Calcutta high court judgment annulling the recruitment of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff appointed through the 2016 School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment drive, terming the entire selection process 'vitiated and tainted'.

Those who were rendered jobless claimed that the reason behind their plight was the inability of the SSC to differentiate between the candidates who secured employment through fraudulent means and those who did not.

Banerjee said the state administration would first seek clarification from the apex court, and if needed, file a review petition 'to ensure the interests of eligible candidates are safeguarded'.

"If the clarification is not in our favour, we will make alternative arrangements within two months. No eligible candidate will be jobless. The government has not sent any termination letters. You can continue to teach voluntarily," she said.

She said after settling the issue of eligible candidates, she would personally look into the cases of those declared ineligible.

"If someone is truly proven to be ineligible, I won't be able to help them. But we need to verify who has declared them ineligible and on what basis."

In a move coinciding with her announcement, the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education moved the Supreme Court seeking 'modification' in its order annulling the school jobs, a high-level source in the education department confirmed.

In an appeal, the Board's lawyer requested that either 'deserving' candidates be allowed to attend their duties till the end of this academic year, or till a fresh recruitment process as directed by the court is completed, whichever is earlier, the source told PTI.

SSC Chairman Siddhartha Majumdar also told PTI that the Commission will move the apex court soon to seek certain clarifications about the order and chart its next course of action as per the court's guidance.

Banerjee, meanwhile, said, "We are not here to disobey the Supreme Court. We will act strictly within the legal framework. But I must say, the administration wasn't given enough time to rectify the mistakes."

She also announced the formation of a legal team comprising Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Kapil Sibal, Rakesh Dwivedi, Kalyan Banerjee and Prashant Bhushan, who would represent the state and the affected candidates in court.

"We will explore all legal avenues, including seeking clarification and modification of the judgment. We are ready with plans A, B, C, D, and E," the CM asserted and appealed to the aggrieved teachers to trust her government.

"If you suffer for two months now, you won't have to suffer for the next 20 years," she said.

Showing printouts of the Optical Mark Recognition sheets from the 2016 exam, Suman Biswas, a teacher present at the meeting, told PTI: "The CM said nothing about the SSC taking into account OMR sheets of untainted candidates and submitting the same to the apex court."

Allegations surfaced during a probe that 'tainted' candidates secured jobs by tampering with their OMR sheets, compromising the chances of deserving candidates.

"What she said about giving voluntary service in schools and not sending any termination letters to candidates makes little sense. The Supreme Court had repeatedly asked the CBI and SSC to furnish details. Her bluff and tall words have been exposed," Biswas said.

He claimed they unsuccessfully tried to raise their points during the CM's meeting.

"Either you (CM) ensure we get back our jobs, or we will hit the streets and even face bullets," added the teacher.

Another teacher Sourav Chakraborty, however, thanked the CM for facilitating the meeting and promising legal support in their battle but expressed concerns about his financial obligations in the wake of his imminent salary stoppage.

Outside Netaji Indoor Stadium, the meeting venue, chaotic scenes prevailed over the distribution of entry passes.

The affected candidates, many of whom said they had approached the courts to seek justice, claimed they were not provided with passes.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari blamed Banerjee for the issue and accused her government of failing to submit the list of eligible and tainted candidates to the top court.

"The state still has a chance. Submit the list by April 15. Otherwise, on April 21, we will march to Nabanna with one lakh people. This will be a non-political people's movement. We will sit in dharna, and if needed, we will push this government out of power," Adhikari said.