The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed High Court order cancelling 25,000 jobs of school teachers in West Bengal. In a significant development in the West Bengal teachers recruitment scam case, the apex court allowed the CBI to continue its investigation into the alleged scam case. However, the court restricted the probe agency from taking any coercive steps against any official or candidate.
Jobless teachers stage protest
The development comes amid protests by the hundreds of teachers whose jobs are facing a threat post Calcutta High Court order. Around 1,000 young teachers staged a demonstration outside the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) office on Friday to express their grievances.
The teachers said they were part of the 26,000 candidates who appeared for the SSC 2016 test, a recruitment process deemed null and void by the high court in its recent verdict. The police personnel from the RAF and Bidhannagar police commissionerate intervened, halting the demonstrators near the commission's head office at Karunamoyee. Approximately, 100 protesters were briefly detained for obstructing the road, a police official said.
SSC chairman Siddhartha Majumder said he met about 10 representatives from the protesters, explaining the legal constraints faced by the commission. He expressed sympathy towards deserving candidates and assured them that the commission would do whatever possible within the legal framework to assist them.
"I have told them we are sympathetic to the deserving candidates. The commission will certainly do whatever is possible, as per the legal framework, to help them," he said.
However, he highlighted that the commission's actions were restricted as the matter was now sub-judice. Responding to queries regarding demands for the release of answer sheets in the public domain, Majumder clarified that the commission couldn't even disclose candidates' results, as the entire issue was sub-judice.
The SSC had earlier said while results of around 20,000 candidates were not suspicious, there are anomalies in the results of over 5000 and it had been brought to the notice of the court in past submissions.
'Job-eater BJP': Mamata Banerjee's jibe at saffron party
Taking a dig at the BJP, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee dubbed it a "job-eater" and said the people of West Bengal would not forgive its leaders for "conspiring to snatch" the livelihood of nearly 26,000 teachers. Addressing an election rally, Banerjee also attacked the CPI(M) and Congress in the same breath, calling the two parties "eyes and ears" of the BJP in the state.
"You have heard about maneater tigers, but have you heard about the job-eater BJP? Did you see the glee on the face of the leaders of the BJP, CPI(M) and Congress after so many people were rendered jobless by the court?" she asked the people at the rally.
"I don't want to comment on the judgement or say anything about the judges. But after taking away the jobs of 26,000 youths, you are asking them to return the salary along with 12 per cent interest. Can you take jobs like that? Give them a chance to rectify. How can 26,000 people be treated in such a way?" she asked.
