Mamata Banerjee meets teachers who lost jobs, asks them to 'keep working'

The Supreme Court, in a strongly worded verdict last week, upheld an earlier verdict of the Calcutta High Court invalidating over 25,000 appointments of teaching and non-teaching staff

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Monday (April 7) promised to stand by thousands of teachers whose appointments were recently cancelled by the Supreme Court due to large-scale irregularities in the 2016 recruitment process. Addressing a gathering of affected teachers at Kolkata’s Netaji Indoor Stadium, Banerjee questioned why similar standards had not been applied to other controversial recruitment cases across the country.

 

Bengal Chief Minister asks teachers to ‘keep working’

 

Banerjee advised the affected teachers to continue working unless they received formal termination letters. She assured them that the state would seek a review of the Supreme Court’s decision and would also request clarifications.

 

“We have to accept the court’s order, seek clarification and file a review petition too. You have not received a termination letter, so you keep working,” she said.

 

What does the SC say in WB teacher recruitment case?

 

The Supreme Court, in a strongly worded verdict last week, upheld an earlier verdict of the Calcutta High Court invalidating the appointments of over 25,000 teaching and non-teaching staff recruited by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) in 2016. Citing severe lapses in the recruitment process, the court ruled that the entire selection had been compromised beyond correction.

 

A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar noted that the process had been “vitiated and tainted beyond resolution”, citing manipulations, fraud, and even a cover-up attempt by WBSSC. The judgement highlighted instances of rank-jumping, appointments of non-shortlisted candidates, and manipulation of Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets — which the Commission had later destroyed without explanation.

 

“In spite of the factual background and the credible evidence indicating irregularities, WBSSC initially did try and cover up the lapses and illegalities. The cover up itself has made the verification and ascertainment more difficult or rather impossible given the scale of camouflage and dressing up done at each stage. We are convinced that the entire selection process was intentionally compromised due to the illegalities involved,” it said.

 

Despite acknowledging the irregularities, the court clarified that those whose appointments were being terminated but were not individually found guilty of malpractice would not be asked to return their salaries. However, their services would still be discontinued. It also directed the state government to conduct a fresh recruitment drive within three months.

 

CM Banerjee asks why West Bengal is being singled out?

 

Reacting sharply to the verdict, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed dismay over what she described as a targeted move against Bengal. Drawing parallels with the Vyapam scam in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and controversies around the NEET examination, Banerjee argued that the Supreme Court had not ordered such sweeping cancellations in those cases.

 

She pointed out that even in the face of widespread allegations in NEET, the examination itself had not been scrapped. According to her, Bengal appeared to be unfairly targeted, possibly due to its academic talent. She demanded clarity from the court on who among the sacked were considered “deserving” and urged the judiciary to provide a detailed list.

 

“The Supreme Court must clarify who is deserving and who is not. Give us the list. No one has the right to break the education system. In the Vyapam case in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, so many people were killed. They have not got justice till today,” she said.

 

The Chief Minister also alleged a political conspiracy behind the developments, blaming both the BJP and the CPI(M) for orchestrating what she described as an attack on the state’s education system. 

 

“If the Supreme Court provides us clarity, we will be grateful. If not, we will find a way and stand by you. Suffer for two months, you don’t have to suffer for 20 years. And I will compensate for those two months too. You won’t have to beg,” she said.

 

[With agency inputs]